The seeress of Prevorst; being revelations concerning the inner-life of man, and the inter-diffusion of a world of spirits in the one we inhabit

B F

(p'j^MMA^t^y

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f^

THE

SEERESS OF PREVORST

REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE INNER-LIFE OF MAN,

INTER-DIFFUSION OF A WORLD OF SPIRITS IN
THE ONE WE INHABIT.

/
COMMUNICATED BY JUSTINUS KERNER;,

CHIEF PHYSICIAN AT WEINSBERG.

FROM THE GERMA.N,

BY MRS. CROWE,

AUTHOR OF THE ADVENTURES OF SUSAN HOPLEY, MEN AND WOMEN,
ARISTODEMUS, ETC. ETC.

LONDON:

J. C. MOORE, 12, WELLINGTON STREET NORTH,
STRAND.

MDCCCXLV.

^0^

EDINBURGH : T. CONSTABLE, PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY.

ti>

THE
REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE INNER-LIFE OF MAN

ARE

DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR

TO HIS MOST

WORTHY AND HONOURABLE FRIENDS,

GOTTHILF HEINRICH v. SCHUBERT

AND

JOHANN FRIEDRICH v. MEYER.

CONTENTS.

Page

I^^TRODUCTION, ...... 5

Native place and early youth.

31

Retiring into the inner-life,

37

Outcoming of the magnetic condition,

39

Appearance in Weinsberg,

5*2

Description of the Seeress,

56

External nervous system, &c.

61

Effects of water and suspension of gravity

65

Effects of imponderable substances,

71

The human eye.

73

Seeing with the pit of the stomach.

75

The protecting spirit,

78

Prophetic dreams.

82

Second-sight,

85

Going forth of the spirit.

88

Prescribing for disease.

97

Cure of the Countess von Maldeghem,

100

The different degrees of magnetism.

107

The sun-sphere and life-sphere, .

111

The spheres.

]14

The inner-language.

124

Relation of spirit, soul, and body.

125

Physical worth.

126

Moral worth,

127

The spheres themselves, .

128

The life-sphere proper.

133

Explanation of the sun-sphere.

135

Relation of life and sun-sphere,

139

Seventh sun-sphere,

142

CONTENTS.

PART SECOND

X xLxvx kjxy vvyxi x/

Page

Introduction,

149

The magnetic man,

151

Remarks on ghost-seeing,

155

Observations by Eschenmayer,

165

Further explanations,

171

Belief in spirits grounded in nature,

183

On the middle-state,

185

Concerning the annexed facts.

191

Two facts at Weinsberg, .

195

Fact second

199

Facts at Weinsberg,

205

Second,

219

Third,

225

Fourth,

234

Fifth,

261

Seventh,

291

Eighth,

293

Ninth,

294

Tenth,

296

Eleventh,

297

Twelfth and Thirteenth, .

299

Fourteenth and Fifteenth,

300

Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth,

. 302

Journal of Seeress,

. -

. 321

Conclusion to Facts,

325

Death of Seeress,
ft

330

ERRATA.

P. 109, l. 12, naturally, omit.

P. 249, for B. and R., read B. and iV.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

As, in presenting this curious work to the public, it
was my object to make a book that should be gene-
rally accessible, a literal translation became out of
the question. Besides considerable prolixity, there
is a great deal of repetition, in the original ; some
parts would have been found too dry, and others too
mystical, for the general reader. I have, therefore,
thought it advisable to make a free translation, giv-
ing the sum and substance of the book as succinctly
as I could ; only varying from this plan, where I
thought a close adherence to the words of the author
was indispensable. M-

I apprehend that many of the extraordinary phe-
nomena recorded by Kerner will not find very gene-
ral credence in England ; but to the believers in
clairvoyance, the book will have a deep interest —
whilst, to the larger class, who are not jQi prepared
to yield faith to its wonders, I should imagine that

X TRANSLATORS PREFACE.

the facts would still be considered well worthy of
attention, both in a physiological and a psycholo-
gical point of view. I s^j facts; because I cannot
conceive the possibility of any candid mind doubting
the greatest number of them, after reading the book ;
or of such an one entertaining a suspicion of impos-
ture, on the part either of physician or patient.
Indeed, Kerner s well-known character, ought to
exempt him from such an imputation from any quar-
ter ; and, for my own part, I reject with horror the
idea, that in a suffering creature, who lived ever on
the verge of the grave, so much apparent innocence
and piety should have been but the cloak to so use-
less and cruel a deception.

Nothing is more easy than to set up a cry of im-
posture. It is a convenient mode of eluding the
trouble of inquiry, and of stifling facts obnoxious to
preconceived theories ; but it is a vulgar resource, as
well as a cowardly one ; though, I am sorry to say,
in no country does the practice prevail so much as
in this.

Ridicule is another weapon easily handled ; but
what many learned, sensible, and good men of a
neighbouring nation believe they have ascertained to
be true, is certainly a very improper subject for its
exercise. If we cannot also believe, we are at least
bound to listen with attention to what they have to

TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. XI

tell US ; and the candid and inquiring will receive
the information with respect, if they cannot with
conviction.

The sincerity and good faith of Dr. Kerner in this
affair, has never^ we believe^ been impugned, even
by the most determined sceptic. He is well known
in Germany as an exceedingly sensible, amiable,
and religious man ; and is a lyric poet of consider-
able eminence. The point of attack, for those who
seek one, must be his sagacity ; but except the as-
sailant were one who had had the same opportunities
for observation and investigation that he had, the
gratuitous imputation of credulity should be^ at least,
cautiously received. At the same time, although I
confess I should be very sorry myself to be one of
the many who, T am aware, will receive these
alleged facts with contempt and derision, I do not
deny that the question, whether the apparitions were
subjective or objective — projections of the nervous
system, or actually external appearances — is one
which can only, if ever, be definitively answered by
the exhibition of repeated phenomena of the same
description. Even Kerner himself, however ulti-
mately convinced, seems long to have doubted ;
whilst he freely admits the impossibility of absolute
conviction on the part of those who have never had

Xll TRANSLATOR S PREFACE.

any occular testimony that such appearances are
permitted.

But, in any case, there are few readers, I should
think, who will not find the book interesting ; whilst
the amiable, earnest, and pious spirit in which it is
written, should, at least, constitute the author's de-
fence against ridicule or malignity, and be accepted
as the translator's justification for presenting the
work to the English public in an accessible form.

PAET FIRST,

REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE INNER
LIFE OF MAN.

" I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes." —
Luke, x., 21.

THE SEEEESS OF PREVORST.

EXTRACTS FROM AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

Upon the truth of her Revelations the Seeress hua
set the seal of death. Her story is not to be eon-
founded with those of persons v/ho have only been
subject to the early and imperfect magnetic condi-
tions, and still less with those of impostors, of whom
several have lately been detected, although the adver-
saries of the Seherin do not scruple to use these
detections to her disadvantage. The existence of
one genuine pearl cannot be disproved by the pro-
duction of a thousand false ones.

It has been frequently asserted that the extraor-
dinary magnetic condition of the Seherin is to be
ascribed to the influence of others. How can we
answer such an absurd objection ? To those who
followed and observed throughout the course of these
phenomena, the assertion is not only false but ridicu-
lous.

Neither are her Revelations to be judged as if
they were portions of a system of philosophy con-

4 AUTHORS PREFACE.

structed by an enlightened mind ; they are revelations
drawn from the intimate contemplation of nature her-
self, and will therefore frequently be found not only
in strict conformity with popular belief, but also
with the opinions of Plato, both of which sprung
from the same source. It is certainly hard, and we
cannot wonder at the annoyance it occasions, that a
weak silly woman should thus disturb the established
systems of the learned, and revive persuasions that
it has long been the aim of the wise amongst men to
eradicate. In this strait, I am acquainted with but
one consolation — it is that which Paul gives in the
first Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter i., verses 27,
28 : — '' 27. But God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty: 28. And base things of
the world, and things which are despised, hath God
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are."

THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

INTRODUCTION

DISCLOSURES CONCEJElNINa THE INNER LIFE OF MAN.

As must every man who, isolating himself from the
hurry and bustle of external life, to contemplate his
inner self, you will feel, dear reader, that our inner
and outer life are not only diflferent, but often in
flat contradiction of each other. What the outer life
finds decorous, the inner frequently condemns ; and
in the midst of the world we are often disquieted by
a still small yoice that whispers us from within. If
you examine further, you will feel that this external
life is the dominion of the brain — the intellect which
belongs to the world — whilst the inner life dwells in
the region of the heart, within the sphere of sensi-
tive life, in the sympathetic and ganglionic system.
You will further feel, that by virtue of this inner
life, mankind is bound up in an eternal connexion
with nature, from which his imperfect external ex-
istence can only apparently release him. It is true,
indeed, that this inner life is overshadowed and ob-
scured to the world-possessed brain ; but still irre-
pressible and immutable, it lives on, a concealed but

H THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

vigilant guard on the conduct and economy of the
outer. Every act and thought, however trifling it
may now appear^ is by it noted and numbered ; and
will one day or other appear in bright relief before
our spiritual eyes, w^hen our bodily ones are for ever
extinguished.

You will also feel, that it is this secret unseen con-
nexion with nature which unites man with the other
world, and conducts him on his way towards it.

The more, in the tumult of the world and the
bustle of existence, this inner life makes itself felt —
the more the gentle voices within us drown the loud
music of the world — the greater is our debt to the
spirit that guides us.* But if thou art carried away
by the current of worldly life, seeking only what
belongs to it, believe, dear reader^ that an hour will
one day come, and God grant it be not thy last ! —
an hour of sorrow and of tears — an hour when thou
shalt stand by the death-bed of thy beloved, or from
the summit of earthly happiness be cast into the
depths of repentance and of shame, deserted and
alone — when thy inner life shall rise up before thee,
embracing thee again within its sphere ; that life
which, since thy childhood, has been hidden from
thee, of which thou hast only been visited by glimpses
in thy dreams — dreams which thou knewest not to
interpret.

Beloved, to so many has this befallen ! To so

* Kerner here alludes to the protecting spirit, to be afterwards
alluded to.

INTRODUCTION. 7

many will it yet, who, dow joyous and with un-
clouded brows, are wholly engrossed with the inter.
ests of this world, and devoting all their best facul-
ties to their advancement ! By the bedside of such
an one I once stood^ and^, with the death-rattle in his
throat, he said to me^ " I feel" that my life has passed
from my brain to the epigastric region ; of my brain
I have no more consciousness — I no longer feel my
arms nor my feet ; but I see inexpressible things —
things which I never believed ; there is another
world ! " — and so saying, he expired.

" When by the graves of the just, the flowers we
have planted as memorials, invite us to a far distant
world, or when we first see the gulf of death yawn-
ing for ourselves, then — but, alas ! too late — we are
seized with a trembling awe at the thoughts of eter-
nity. Strange presentiments creep round the fail-
ing heart, and anxious sighs burst from the oppressed
bosom. But these thoughts are far from us by the
cradle of infancy, and in the flower of our age, — far
from us at the marriage feast, in the glittering halls
of the wealthy, and the joyous circles of Bacchus."*

And thus once wrote to us a spiritually -minded
medical friend, after the death of one much honoured
and beloved : —

" It was not terror at the sight of death that so
shook me and incapacitated me for the oflice of a
physician, nor was it altogether grief for my loss.
The concussion awakened the inner life within me,

* From Ennemoser's History of Magnetism.

8 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

and in despair I was ready to sink into its depths.
I contemplated with horror the monstrous blindness
of the soul, the vanity and nothingness of our self-
knowledge and self-will_, the fearfulness of the inevit-
able and untractable concatenation of things^ our
deeds and their consequences — indelible, ineffaceable,
— fast in the gripe of eternity. Ah ! I should de-
spair, did I not look for help from God. Beloved,
it has become clear and evident to me, that there is
but one mode of deliverance from this bond, this
chain by which we, blind and bewildered, are dragged
forward, knowing nothing, neither what we do nor
the consequences of our actions; that there is a
kingdom of grace and of love ; and that when we
stand before the judgment-seat, face to face with
God, he only can be set free, and reach eternal rest
and happiness, who is to it reconciled and into it
received. In God we must live, work, and act, if
we would not, according to the eternal laws of na-
ture, have our souls ensnared and plunged into a
darkness through which no beam of light and joy
can penetrate. So, beloved, let us love life, yea
covet life, yet live not for ourselves ; but make our
peace with God, and through the living God within
us, do our work. Ah ! it is awful to think that every
step a man takes is on the brink of a thousand pre-
cipices/'

And thus writes to us the well-known philosopher
Schelling, in the year 1811, on the death of a friend's
wife, after he had himself experienced a like misfor-
tune : —

INTRODUCTION. \)

" When we form a proper estimate of our present
life, when we reflect that our situation here is much
more awful than we are accustomed to consider it,
since the hand of God conceals from us its real sig-
nification^ we must look upon those as happy who
are released from it. Justly considered, they have
won the victory, whilst we stand yet on the field of
battle, and are waiting to be set free. The value of
this life is well denoted by the common proverb,
that no man should be pronounced happy till he is
dead. Reflection and inquiry have brought me to
the conviction, that death, so far from weakening
our personality, exalts it, since it frees it from so
many contingencies. Remembrance is but a feeble
expression to convey the intimate connexion which
exists betwixt those who are departed and those who
remain. In our innermost being, we are in strict
union with the dead ; for in our better part we are
no other than what they are — spirits. The future
re-union of accordant souls, who through life have
had one love, one faith, and one hope, is a thing
to be confidently relied on, being one of the pro-
mises of Christianity to be faithfully fulfilled to all,
however difficult the conception is, even to those
minds most accustomed to abstract contemplations.
I am daily more satisfied that, as we might expect,
there is a mutual dependence betwixt things essen-
tially personal and things immortal. If more were
needed to confirm this persuasion in those who think
and feel rightly, the death of one bound to us by the
fondest ties of love, is sufficient to set on it the seal

IQ THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

of conviction. It is when we know that life is fad-
ing from us, and that for us there is no more pleasure
in the world, we first begin to live for God. Then,
when the external world sinks from us^ the inner life
ascends. It needs no sleep- waking to perceive this
inner life ; to every man who is not too much en-
tangled in the world — to him who lilies in it, but is
not of it — is given an eye to discern it.

" Look for it in others, and you will need no sleep-
waking to find it. In how many godly and spirit-
ually minded men it exists ! How often does it
dwell in the poor hovel with the Bible and Prayer-
Book, where guiltless souls suffer sorrow, and the
morsel of black bread is moistened with tears !" —

'^ A free untrammelled mind," says Athanasius
Kirchner, '^ not shackled by its earthly covering, in
union with God, and remembering its original con-
dition, enjoys the clearest view of all things, seeing
them in their essence."

Thus, you will find, beloved, in the history of
pious men, how, when in moments of pain and afflic-
tion, the external world disappeared, they plunged
into the profoundest depths and innermost sphere of
their inner life, and revealed to themselves such won-
ders as have since been made known to us by som-
nambules.

Let a few examples suffice us.

It was in the year 1461, when the Hussites were
undergoing a cruel persecution, that a pious man, at
Prague, called Georginus, who was brought to the
rack, and stretched upon the instrument of torture,

INTRODUCTION. 1 1

became, in an extraordinary manner, insensible to
pain, and to all external sensations, appearing so en-
tirely lifeless that the executioners took him down,
and flung him on the earth for dead. After the lapse
of some hours, however, he came again to himself,
wondering why his side, feet, and hands, caused
him so much uneasiness. But when he beheld the
wounds and scars, the burnt and bloody places on
his body, and the tools of the executioner, they
brought to his mind what had happened ; and he re-
lated a dream that he had had during the torture.
" I thought," said he, " that I was in a green and
beautiful meadow, and in the middle of it stood a
tree, on which grew a great deal of fine fruit ; and
on the tree were perched many birds, who ate of the
fruit, whilst they sang melodiously. And amongst
the birds I beheld a youth, who, with a small rod,
appeared to •regulate their movements, that none
should presume too far or get out of his place ; and
I saw three men, who kept watch over the tree.'*

He described the appearance and persons of these
men; and it is a remarkable fact, that six years
afterwards, the same number of men that he had
seen in his dream, and answering to the same descrip-
tion, were appointed to rule over the Church.

In the year 1 639, a poor widow, called Liicken, who
was accused of being a witch, and sentenced to the
rack, at Helmstadt, having been cruelly tortured by
the screw, was seized with dreadful convulsions,
spoke high German, and a strange language, and
then fell asleep on the rack, and appeared to be

12 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

dead. The circumstance being related to the Juris-
consult at Helmstadt, she was ordered to be again
submitted to the torture. Then, protesting she was
a good Christian, whilst the executioner stretched
her on the rack, whipt her with rods, and sprinkled
her with burning brimstone, she fell again fast asleep,
and could not by any means be awakened.

In the first of these anecdotes you will perceive how
the soul, afflicted by the external world, abandons it,
leaving the body alone for its prey, whilst it flies to
unite itself to the spirit in the innermost sphere of
its inner life, where^ as in sleep-waking, the future
is revealed to it, and it enjoys the wondrous gift of
prophecy.

By the second history you will observe how the
soul, whilst it resigned its body to the tortures of the
external world, itself took refuge in its home, and
thence, perhaps, (as happened to our own somnam-
bule,) spoke the language of that home.

" It may happen," says a deep-seherin, or clear-
seer, ^' to a man who is intimately acquainted with
his inner life, that in proportion as he is disturbed
by the elements without, his inner-life becomes more
joyful, and the sensations of the body thus re-
pressed, are altogether annihilated."

The history of the martyrs shows how^ in mo-
ments of the severest anguish from without, they at-
tained an inward security, by which they endured
with patience the most cruel tortures, laughed at
their oppressors, and went to the rack and the pile
as to a bridal-bed. Thus did John Huss and Jeremy

INTRODUCTION. 13

of Prague, whilst their bodies were being consumed
in the flames, with their latest breath, sing songs of
praise and thanksgiving. So, as to a feast, went
Dorothy to the stake. Joyous, and like conquerors,
the martyrs stood, as if their bodies were no longer
made of flesh. Where, then, was their soul? It
was in the light and security within. Similar phe-
nomena are shown us in the magnetic life, and in
several histories of the Old and New Testament, as
well as in the lives of many godly persons — the
Maid of Orleans, for example. Thus we read in
Delavergy, an account, extracted from a MS. in the
Royal Library, of the words spoken by the Maid of
Orleans on her trial.

^' When I was thirteen years old, I heard a voice
in my father's garden at Donremy. It proceeded
from the side where the church stood, and was suc-
ceeded by a bright light. At first I was frightened,
but presently I became aware that it was the voice
of an angel, who has been ever since my guide and
instructor. It was Saint Michael. I also saw Saint
Catherine and Saint Margaret, who admonished me,
and directed all my proceedings. I could easily dis-
tinguish by the voice whether it was an angel or a
saint that spoke to me. They were generally accom-
panied by a bright light. Their voices are soft and
sweet. The angels appeared to me with natural
heads. I have seen them, and do see them with my
eyes."

Five years after, as she was keeping the cows, a
voice said to her that God had pity upon the French

14 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

people, and that she must go and save them. As
thereupon she began to weep, the voice bade her go
to Vaucouleurs, where she would find a captain, who,
without impediment, would conduct her to the king.

" Since then,*' said she, " I have done nothing
but in conformity with these directing revelations
and apparitions ; and now, during my whole trial,
I speak only as they prompt me."

At the siege of Orleans she foretold the capture of
the city, and that her own blood would be shed ; and
in reality, on the following day, she was wounded
by an arrow, which penetrated six inches into her
shoulder.

A similar natural somnambule was St. Theresa,
who was born in the beginning of the 1 6th century,
and had visions like those of the Maid of Orleans.*

If we read the history of the saints, we shall find
innumerable facts bearing testimony to the power of
the inner life. These legends have been, and still
are, looked upon as a collection of folly and fanati-
cism, which is the consequence of the tyrannical pre-
dominance of the brain over the heart, which, sla-
vishly imprisoned in the dark dungeon of the breast,
no longer listens to the child-like voices of antiquity,
when faith removed mountains, and the thorny path
was lighted by the light of love. It is extremely
possible that many of the lives of the saints, and their
wonders, are exaggerated, and many may not be au-
thentic. However, that which pious and god-sancti-

* See Life of St. Theresa, by J. B. A. Borecher. Paris. 1810.

INTRODUCTION. J 5

fied men were, and are still in a condition to do,
stands fast — so fast that the lightning of heaven can-
not overthrow it. It is a history so deeply graven,
that neither the raging of the storm, nor the crash of
a world falling together^ can annihilate it. It is true
they acted simply, according to our present notions ;
but even so they found what they sought — peace of
mind, and all they desired, in God.

But these wonders of tbe inner life are also known
to others^ who, from their youth up, have led a tem-
perate, simple, God-given life, without despising their
daily duties, but strongly and worthily fulfilling
them. We are instructed also by certain significant
dreams, presentiments, and communications from the
world of spirits ; and also from what is only to be
learnt by the revelations of the magnetic life.

We find in the experience of the grandfather of
the person whose history these pages contain, evi-
dences of a deep inner life ; though, being endowed
with a healthy body and lively brain, he attained an
advanced age ; ascending from the condition of a
herdsman to that of a wealthy merchant ; but always
leading a simple, active, God-sanctified life.

" I was ill," says the old merchant, Johann
Schmidgall, of Lowenstein, " and believing myself
about to die, I felt full of joy at the happy lot that
had fallen to me. I woke as out of a slumber, and
found myself on a meadow, whose limits I could not
discern, whereon were many shadowy forms who all
moved towards the east ; and I felt so light and
happy, and was so full of expectation and excite-

16 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

ment, that I hastened in the same direction. As I
drew nearer, I distinguished a woman holding a ves-
sel of crystal, which contained a red liquid. Around
her pressed a multitude of departed souls, and I per-
ceived, that taking some of this tincture in a silver
spoon, she distributed it to certain of the shades,
who then immediately hastened towards the east.
Many were not accepted, but were waved away by
the left hand of the woman ; and these forthwith
disappeared in the distance. At length, it was my
turn, and joyfully I approached her ; but oh^ horror !
I was rejected.

" How I felt, I will not attempt to describe. It
was a blessing that I immediately awoke, and I
thanked God that I was yet upon the earth.

''' This extraordinary dream was sent me by the
Lord, that I might be induced to look more deeply
into my heart, and be cured of the folly of thinking
myself better than other people ; and also that I
might learn to rely more entirely on the efficacy of
the merits of Christy who has redeemed us with his
precious blood."

This Johann Schmidgall had for some time ma-
naged the affairs of a widow, whose circumstances,
after the death of her husband, did not appear in a
very prosperous condition ; and having, by his disin-
terested advice and services, placed . her in a com-
fortable situation, he began to think it time to look
after his own advancement. He had procured a good
situation at Esslingen, having provided his mistress
with another servant ; so, packing up his trunk, he

INTRODUCTION. 17

took leave, and with his stick in his hand departed
from the door. Slowly he ascended the mountain ;
he felt afraid^ and was oppressed by an anxiety that
he could not account for. With every step he ad-
vanced, this anxiety increased, though in spite of it
he went on, every now and then, however, feeling
himself forced to pause and stand still ; till at length
this uneasiness increased to such a degree, that he
turned back towards Lbwenstein. Instantly all
anxiety vanished. " But," thought he, " it would
be a most extraordinary thing to turn back, when I
know of no cause for doing so ;" so he determined
not to mind, but to go to Esslingen, let things be as
they might. He turned round, and again the anxiety
recurred. Nevertheless, he went forward till he
reached a forest called the Gaisholz. Here his un-
easiness was augmented to the highest degree ; and
instead of the well known forest and road^, he beheld
before him a strange country, and an immense, large,
empty field, in the midst of which stood a man,
making signs to him to turn back. There was now
no help for it ; he felt that he must go back ; and as
soon as his face was turned towards Lowenstein, the
anxiety and the strange country disappeared together.
Thoughtfully he returned to the lady's house, and
setting his stick behind the door, and pretexting an
excuse for his re-appearance, he gave up all thoughts
of leaving her. The lady, though astonished, said
nothing ; neither did the other persons of the house-
hold, and every thing went on as if he had never
left it. He quietly took possession of his former

B

18 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

situation, wrote to the new servant that he need not
come, and things resumed their previous train. And
this was the origin of Schmidgall's fortune. He
brought this lady's business into a very flourishing
condition, married her daughter ; and by his example,
counsel, and conduct^ as well as by his traffic, which
grew to be very extensive, he became a real blessing
to the place, and continued so to a great age.

In these traits of Schmidgall's inner life, you get
a glimpse of the Protector, so constantly disclosed
in the sleep-waking condition : in the first instance,
as a warning and significant dream ; and in the se-
cond, as a man who, appearing to him in a strange
country, beckons him to return, at the very moment,
when probably the path that nature prompted him
to follow would have led to his unhappiness ; and
these circumstances occurred to Schmidgall, who was
never in his life in an excited state, nor ever sufiered
from any derangement of the nervous system. He
lived a temperate, even, though active life ; and thus
his internal perceptions were not obscured by his ex-
ternal condition. In his eightieth year, when he had
lived to see forty grand-children, he had still an
untroubled, cheerful countenance, rosy cheeks and
shining silver hair, and without a stick, and with his
little grand-daughter by his side, (she who is the
subject of this history^) he was wont to wander over
the highest mountains of the region he inhabited.
Schmidgall was no contemner of his daily duties ; he
neither brooded over spiritual things, nor sought after
them. All he knew was, to maintain the simplicity

INTRODUCTION. 1 9

and purity of his original nature, against the pressure
of the world without ; and he thus preserved in his
inner life the ever faithful guide.

One morning, as he arose from his bed more cheer-
ful than usual, he narrated to his children, that in
the foregoing night, his blessed wife had appeared to
him in a dream, more distinctly than anything of the
sort he ever remembered. She had said something
to him, but what it was he could not recall. When
this happened he was in perfect health — but seven
days afterwards — dead.

In the same night that Schmidgall had this dream,
his grand-daughter, who was far away from him, lay
in sickness and sujQTering for twelve hours, buried in
the profoundest depths of her inner life — in that con-
dition of inner wakefulness, which is called magnetic
sleep waking; then a spirit (whose history will be
hereafter related,) spoke to her and said, " I know
not wherefore thy protecting spirit, (this was her
grandmother, the wife of Schmidgall,) has for seven
days abandoned thee, and is engaged with something
of more importance that is occurring in thy family
— and without her support thou couldst not bear
with me."

You will perceive by this anecdote that what hap-
pens in one instance where the body is diseased,
takes place in another where it is perfectly healthy ;
and you may, therefore, beloved, come to this con-
clusion : that such apparitions are not only seen by
the sick, are not merely visions of a heat-oppressed
brain, but are very often actual appearances. In-

20 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

deed^ we are too much inclined to attribute these
visions to disease. Too often^ through the world
and its bustle, is the spirit of man driven from its
home, finding in its inner dwelling no spot to repose
in. With so many people, the world draws the
body, the body the soul, and the soul the spirit, out
of its sphere, and fastens it to the earth ; and with
so many is the external life alone familiar : that
those in whom the spirit holds its natural place are
no longer considered within the sphere of ordinary
beings, but are looked upon as something unnatural,
strange, or accurst.

" Social life,*' says a deep-seer, " is a tumult in
which mankind is entangled. If one, however, will
find a fixed point, and not allow himself to be car-
ried away, he may observe the course of things as
they pass by him, judge them, and weigh them.
Such an one lives in freedom, and learns that which
no instruction can teach him. What passes without,
is explained and interpreted by the spirit within.
But as long as a man has only eyes and ears for
things external, the inner faculties take no cog-
nizance of them. All should proceed from within.
As the Scripture says, " What comes from within
is good." We must be like Mary. She understood
not the words of Christ, but she laid them to her
heart. Had she sought to comprehend them by the
assistance of external things, she would inevitably
have interpreted them falsely ; the voice from with-
in only could teach her their true meaning. There
lie many deeply-hidden mysteries in nature, and in

INTRODUCTION. 2 1

man, of which we know nothing ; because our eyes
and ears are wholly engrossed with external things,
and because the sounds from without drown the voice
from within.

Oh! wondrous, beloved, is the life of the inner
world ! by which we live, and have our being ; and
whence flows our consolation, and our alL But^,
alas ! it awakens no wonder in us. We should be
happy, if we would listen to the soft whispers of the
spirit, and were not deafened to its murmurs by the
mill-wheel of the world.

'* When God created the human soul," says Van
Helmont, '^ he communicated to it essential and
original knowledge. This soul is the mirror of the
universe, and is in connexion with all beings* She
is lighted by a light from within ; but the storms of
passion, and the multitude of sensuous impressions,
and the distractions of the world, darken this light,
whose beams are only shed when it burns alone, and
all within us is in peace and harmony. If we would
abstract ourselves from all external influences, and
follow this light alone, we should find within our-
selves true and unerring counsel. In this state of
concentration the soul discriminates between all ob-
jects to which its observation is directed. It can
unite itself with them — penetrate their properties —
and, reaching up to God, through him attain the
most important truths."

If we go back into the primitive ages, when men
dwelt under the dominion of nature, before the inner
life was stifled by what is called cultivation — in the

22 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

history of the Old Testament, for example, or even
now in the East, which was the cradle of mankind —
we shall find remnants of this inner life exhibited
by entire races of people — such as, when they are
observed in individuals here, we are accustomed to
look upon as symptoms of disease.

I must here refer^ also, to that inner language,
which will be presently treated of in these pages.
It was revealed by this lady in her sleep-waking
state, and she asserted that the like was in every
man. Both in writing and speaking, it bore a close
resemblance to the Eastern tongues ; for the reason,
that in the language spoken by the children of the
human family, lies the natural inner, language of
man ; and from the same source arises the custom of
reckoning by numbers and characters, which resem-
ble theirs.

Even that disclosing of the spirit, in the presence
of stones and metals, and the susceptibility to mag-
netic influences^ are found chiefly in men living ac-
cording to nature — Highlanders and shepherds.

Where, however, through sorrow and sickness, or
from a natural hereditary condition of constitution
(which seems most applicable to our case), the body
becomes, as it were, dead — then the nerve and its
spirit, as being that which mediates between the
mind, soul, and body, steps forth unshackled — and
then are all the wonders of the inner life fully dis-
closed to us.

But oh ! beloved, what an inexpressible consola-
tion do we here find ! You see that, when the ex~

INTRODUCTION. 23

ternal world, with its sorrow and anguish, consumes
the body or preys on its vitals — when no star of
hope, no spark of joy, beams on thee from without,
then first from within there shines forth an inexpres-
sibly bright life over which the external world has
no power — a life which no rack can destroy — whose
flame the darkness of no dungeon can extinguish —
which breaks on thee from the profoundest depths
of nature — which ijinites thee with the world of
spirits — and in which thou eujoyest a foretaste of
the bliss in which thine immortal soul will revel
when once purified from the body.

This is the rest — this the beatitude — that the
guiltless sufferer, to whom the world can afibrd no
more comfort, enjoys from within. It may be
winter without, but there is spring within his breast;
and although his body may be stretched upon the
rack, he the while is reposing on a smiling meadow.

And may the following pages, dear reader, which
contain many strange revelations respecting the
inner life, and the diffusion of a world of spirits
amongst us, make clear to you that this inner life
exists in us all, and at all times, and not only in the
state of sleep- waking. But we do not welcome it,
nor look within to seek it, nor listen to its whispers,
nor trouble ourselves to discover their interpretation ;
because the voices from without cry ever in our ears
till that moment comes — and oh ! how quickly comes
it to all — when the external world fades from us ;
and then, but too late, our spirit reverts to its inner

24. THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

sphere, and beholds, for the first time, the unsus-
pected terrors that await it.

And now, dear reader, I will, in this place, say a
few words on the existence of that inner life which
is called the magnetic sleep — a subject which the
contents of this book will more fully explain. We
must not call this condition sleep — it is rather a
state of the most perfect vigilance ; for it is the
rising of an inward and much brighter sun than that
which our external eyes behold, and it is lighted by
a clearer light than our waking life can furnish by
means of our ideas, conclusions, definitions, and
systems. It is a condition which resembles the
primitive state of mankind, when man lived in inti-
mate connexion with nature, understood her laws,
and read her in her original type. " Before the
fall of man," says Van Helmont, '^ the soul had an
intuitive knowledge, and a prophetic gift of im-
mense power. These faculties the soul yet possesses ;
and that they are not perceptible is owing to the
number of obstacles which are in their way. In
sleep, especially, we are often visited by this super-
natural light, because then this inward inspiration is
not repressed, as in our waking state, by external
stimulants. Once more arouse this magic power —
which is especially the case in the magnetic condi-
tion— and it immediately attains knowledge, and the
faculty of exerting it externally.'* —

" This much is certain," says Herder, ^^ that in
all our faculties there is an infinitude that can here
never be developed, because it is repressed by other

INTRODUCTION. 25

faculties, by our senses and animal instinctSj and is
bound in the trammels of this earthly life. A few
examples of foresight and presentiment have dis-
closed wonders of the treasures which lie hidden in
the soul of man. That, for the most part, these
phenomena appear as the result of disease, and of a
disturbed equipoise of the faculties, does not change
the nature of the thing, for this disproportion was
required to give freedom to the force, and exhibit its
amount."

In the clearest and highest magnetic condition,
there is neither seeing, hearing, nor feeling; they
are superseded by something more than all three
together — an unerring perception, and the truest
penetration into our own life and nature. And the
more simple and the nearer nature the man is in his
waking state, who falls into this condition, the more
entirely does his spirit liberate itself from soul and
body, and the deeper and truer is his self-seeing.

But this state has also its various degrees and
differences, as will be hereafter shewn; and it is in
the highest condition of the inner life that no de-
ception is possible — especially in that moment when
the spirit, finding itself released from the soul, the
very innermost centre is illuminated as by a flash of
lightning. '^ From that moment/' says a clear-seer,
" everything resolves itself into an unbounded sea
of light, in which from infinite bliss I seem to be
dissolved myself. Every form presents itself to me
in this lidit — which far exceeds that of the sun— in

26 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the most defined and accurate point of view. I
comprehend everything much more easily and clearly,
the depths of nature are opened to me, and my view
of the past and the future, both as regards tim6 and
space, is like viewing the present ; and is more per-
fect and defined in proportion to the degree of de-
velopment the condition has reached.

Jacob Bohmen calls this crisis that in which '' the
dawn of morning rises to the centre." However,
such moments happen rarely, are not alike to all,
and, to some, are never granted; and, when they
are, words are often unequal to describe what is
disclosed.

" The sleep-seer," says another somnambule,
" takes his knowledge with him, and finds it aug-
mented, without, however, becoming omniscient.
His ignorance accompanies him in his clear-seeing,
especially at first ; and it depends on God how soon,
and in what degree, it is got rid of.'*

Moreover, this state of sleep-waking is not so en-
tirely liberated from its earthly shell as to be wholly
free from influences ; and these bright glimpses, as
already observed, are often only momentary, and
are quickly obscured by clouds. Nevertheless, the
veil that separates us from what is heyond^ is always
in some measure blown away ; and we penetrate, if
only with earthly and troubled eyes, and by mo-
mentary gleams, through the chinks of the coffin
that encloses us, into an ocean of infinite light.
But assuredly, beloved, this condition of clear-

INTRODUCTION. 2?

seeing does not furnish a means by which we can
approach the state which we must attain before we
can see God.

Eschenmayer says truly, " Persons in this condi-
tion have no merit. Whatever moral or religious
ideas they may utter, they are no substantial posses-
sion ; they are only the natural results of a soul freed
from the load of intellectual life. And thence these
persons, on awaking, resume their former situation
as representatives of individual existence, altogether
unconscious of secrets that have been disclosed to
them. And here lie» the difference betwixt the sense
of the beauty of virtue and the merit of its exercise.
The mere contemplation of the idea of virtue is far
from the accomplishment of what is good. Yea, my
beloved, let us beware of information extorted from
a clear-seer. S. Martin pronounces it dangerous,
because it frequently unveils the mystery of our
being before we are prepared for it. '' The hidden
germ of our being/* says he, " shall be developed
through the power, the will, and the working of the
origin of all power ; and, if not, this is exposed to
great risk, as is frequently seen in the history of som-
nambules.'* And this, beloved, may also be applic-
able to the before-mentioned circumstances, where you
have either a high magnetic condition evidently pre-
pared by nature, or where, by inordinate and ill-timed
magnetic operations of various sorts, (as by sympa-
thy, magic, or the manipulation of different persons)
you see a human being brought into a condition be-
twixt a mortal and a spirit ; whereby, if I may so

28 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

express it, he is kept struggling for years betwixt
this world and the other, belonging properly to
neither. How many hours of boundless anxiety this
condition has, under such circumstances, occasioned
to happy and credulous hearts, by blowing aside the
veil from the future — and how I could therefore write
many lines of its history (as God knows) with my
best heart's blood — I will not here set down. How-
ever, let us address to all parents and physicians this
warning : namely, that in cases of disease magnetic
operations should only be resorted to in the most
desperate cases, and as a last resource (especially
where the condition does not come naturally) ; and
that even then it is to be used with great caution ;
and also that the patient, who is subjected to this
mysterious influence, should be withdrawn from the
eyes of the curious and calumnious. Moreover, let no
man stretch forth his hand whose heart is not filled
with religion and a deep earnestness ; and who is not
free and unshackled by the world. The magnetiser s
art is like that of Van Helmont.

" The God-elected physician," says Yan Helmont r
" will be accompanied by many signs and wonders for
the schools ; and whilst he uses his gifts for the alle-
viation of his neighbours' sufferings, he will refer the
glory of his cures to God. Pity is his guide. His
heart will be truth, and his knowledge understand-
ing. Love will be his sister, and the truth of the
Lord will enlighten his path. He will call upon the
grace of God, and the desire of gain shall not pos-
sess him. For the Lord is rich and a free giver ;

INTRODUCTION. 29

and pays back an hundredfold with a heaped -up
measure. He will make fruitful his work^ and his
hand shall be clothed in blessings. From his mouth
shall flow comfort ; and his voice shall be as a trum-
pet, at the sound of which disease shall vanish. His
feet shall bring gladness^ and sickness shall dissolve
before him like the snow in summer. Health shall
follow his footsteps. These are the promises of the
Lord to the holy one whom he has chosen : these
are the blessings reserved for him whose path is the
path of mercy. Moreover, the Holy Ghost shall
enlighten him."

There was a period in ancient times when the
magnetic condition was known, and where the dili-
gent application of its operations was used as a re-
medy, as well as for religious and political purposes,
especially by means of the laurel and of vapours ;*
and it was then confined to the temples of the gods as
a mystery ; not flung to the multitude, nor permitted
to be handled by unbelievers, deriders, nor dissem-
blers.

The sleeper was dealt with in a chamber of the
temple, in solemn stillness, and generally in the
night. When he awoke, the priests told him of the
means he had revealed, and the result.

But, beloved, in the circumstances of our present
external life — this vulgar life ! — a man in this condi-
tion is like a pupa, whose unhappy lot it has been to

* It is to be noted, that a magnet-stone, a sort of red ochre,
was generally employed for these purposes.

30 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

unfold itself into a butterfly amongst a troop of boys.
Look, how one blows at him, another strikes him,
and another transfixes him with a needle, till, dis-
turbed in his development, he slowly expires, but
half emerged from his shell. And this, my beloved,
is the picture of an unhappy magnetic life, the most
remarkable phenomena of which are to be treated of
in this book.

THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

NATIVE PLACE AND EARLY YOUTH.

In Wirtemberg, near the town of Lowenstein, on
those mountains whose highest point, the Stocksberg,
is raised 1879 feet above the level of the sea, sur-
rounded on all sides by hill and valley, and in a ro-
mantic seclusion, lies the little village of Prevorst.
It reckons something more than 400 inhabitants, the
greatest number of whom maintain themselves by
wood-cutting, coal-burning, and collecting the pro-
ductions of the forest.

As is usually the case with Highlanders, they are
a strong race of people, and most of them reach a
considerable age unacquainted with disease. Mala-
dies common to Lowlanders, as the ague, are here un-
known ; but nervous derangements frequently appear
in early youth, — a thing scarcely to have been expect-
ed amongst so robust a people. Thus it is observed, in
a place called Neuhiitte, situated, like Prevorst, upon
the mountains, that a sort of St. Yitus's dance becomes
epidemic, chiefly amongst young people, so that all
the children of the place are seized with it at the
same time. Like persons in a magnetic state, they
are aware of the precise moment that a fit will seize
them ; and i? they are in the fields when the par-

6Z THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

oxysm is approaching, they hasten home^ and imme-
diately fall into a convulsion, in which condition they
will move, for an hour or more, with the most sur-
prising regularity, keeping measure like an accom-
plished dancer ; after which they frequently awake
as out of a magnetic sleep, without any recollection
of what has happened. It is also certain, that these
ijiountaineers are peculiarly sensible to magnetic in-
fluences, amongst the evidences of which are their
susceptibility to sympathetic remedies, and their
power of discovering springs by means of the divin-
ing rod.

In the year 1801, on these mountain heights, in-
deed in the village of Prevorst, was born a woman,
who, in her early childhood, gave evidence of an ex-
traordinary inner life, the phenomena of which are
to form the subject of these pages.

Frederica HaufFe, commonly called the Seherin von
Prevorst, whose father held the situation of game-
keeper or district forester, was, as the natural conse-
quence of the secluded situation of the place, brought
up in a state of the greatest simplicity and artless-
ness. In the keen mountain air, inured to the long
winters that often prevail, unenfeebled by luxurious
clothing or warm beds, she grew up a blooming joy-
ous child ; and whilst her sisters, whose rearing was
of the same description, were afflicted in their child-
hood with gout, nothing of the sort was observed in
her. But, to counterbalance this immunity, there
was disclosed, at a very early age, a too evident
faculty of preternatural anticipation or presentiment,

EARLY YOUTH. 33

which was chiefly exhibited in prophetic dreams.
If she suffered reproof, or felt annoyance^ in
any way that irritated her mind or affected her
feelings, she was always, during her nocturnal re-
pose, conducted into those depths, in which she
was visited by instructive, premonitory, or prophetic
visions.

Thus, on one occasion, when her father had lost,
some object of value, and threw the blame on her,
who was innocent, her feelings being thereby aroused,
in the night the place where the things were appeared
to her in a dream ; and, in her hands, at a very early
age, the hazel wand pointed out metals and water.
At a later period, as few opportunities of mental
^ cultivation were accessible in this retired spot, her
parents gladly resigned her to the care of her grand-
father, Johann Schmidgall, who resided at Lowen-
stein, a place not far distant.

However beneficial the simplicity, purity, and
temperance of her pious grandfather and grand-
mother were to this easily governed child, yet, with-
^ out any fault of theirs, but to their extreme regret,
she became too early acquainted with spiritual and
supernatural matters ; for there was something in
the nature of the girl that could no more be kept
back, than could the growth of her body.

Old Schmidgall soon observed, that when the
child accompanied him in his walks through solitary
places, though she was skipping ever so gaily by
his side, at certain spots a kind of seriousness and
shuddering seemed to seize upon her, which, for a
c

34 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

long time, he could not comprehend. He also ob-
served that she experienced the same sensations in
churchyards, and in churches where there were
graves ; and that, in such churches, she could never
remain below, but was obliged to go to the galleries.

But to the grandfather a still more suspicious cir-
cumstance than this sensibility to the neighbourhood
of dead bodies, metals, &c. &c. was the fact, that it
was accompanied by a consciousness of the presence
of spirits.

Thus, there was an apartment in the Castle of
Lowenstein — an old kitchen — which she could never
look into or enter without being much disturbed.
In the very same place, some years afterwards, the
spectre of a woman was, to her great horror, seen
by a lady, who had never been informed of the sen-
sations experienced by the child.

To the great regret of her family, this sensibility
to spiritual influences, imperceptible to others, soon
became too evident ; and the first appearance of a
spectre to the young girl was in her grandfather s
house. There, in a passage, at midnight, she beheld
a tall, dark form, which, passing her with a sigh,
stood still at the end of the vestibule, turning to-
wards her features that, in her riper years, she well
remembered. This first apparition, as was generally
the case with those she saw in after life, occasioned
her no apprehension. She calmly looked at it, and
then, going to her grandfather, told him that ''' there
was a very strange man in the passage, and that he
should go and see him;" but the old man, alarmed

EARLY YOUTH. 35

at the circumstance — for he also had seen a similar
apparition in the same place, though he had never
mentioned it — did all he could to persuade her that
she was mistaken, and, from that time, never allowed
her to leave the room at night.

These serious, but lamentable endowments, how-
ever, made no difference in the childlike life of the
young girl : she was the most joyous amongst her
companions ; although a remarkable sensibility in
the nerves of the eye, (without the least inflamma-
tion,) which continued for a whole year, and which
was, perhaps, the preparation for seeing things in-
visible to ordinary eyes — a development of the
spiritual eye within the fleshly — confined her to
her chamber for a considerable time.

At a later period, the tedious sickness of her
parents recalled her to the secluded village of Pre-
vorst, where, through sorrow and night-watchings by
the sick-bed, her feelings were kept for a whole year
in a state of excitement ; and, consequently, pro-
phetic dreams, and that consciousness of things hid-
den from persons in a normal state, still continued.

As she grew older, we find her again in the
house of her parents at Oberstenfeld, which was for
a period the official residence of her father ; and
from her seventeenth to her nineteenth year — during
which interval she was subjected chieffy to pleasant
and animating influences — she appeared, in some
degree, to lock up her inward impressions, and was
distinguished only by a more than commonly spiri-
tual character, which spoke from her eyes— and also

36 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

by greater liveliness — without, however, swerving
from the usual manners and demeanour of the young
women of her circle ; and, in spite of all the false-
hoods that have been propagated on the subject, it
is positively certain, that even at that age which is'
most susceptible of such emotions, she never formed
any attachment, nor ever suffered from disappointed
affection.

In compliance with the wishes of her parents and
connexions, in her nineteenth year an engagement
was formed betwixt her and Mr. H , who be-
longed to her uncle's family, which, from the recti-
tude of the man, and the prospect of certain protec-
tion, must have been very agreeable to her. But
whether it was from a presentiment of the years of
suffering and sickness that awaited her, or whether
from any other cause which she concealed — that it
did not arise from disappointed affection is certain —
she sank at this time into a state of depression, for
which her friends could in no way account — wept all
day long under the roof of her parents' house, where
she concealed herself — did not sleep for five weeks —
and, in fact, was again absorbed in the overpowering
life-feeling of her childhood.

It happened that the funeral of the very worthy
minister of Oberstenfeld took place on the day of
her marriage, a man upwards of sixty years of
age, whose preaching, learning, and personal inter-
course— ^for he was a model of rectitude — had had
considerable influence on her life. On the day of
the burial, she followed the beloved remains to the

THE INNER-LIFE. 37

churchyard. However heavy her heart was before,
at the grave she became light and cheerful. A
wonderful inner-life was at once awakened in her ;
she became quite calm, and could scarcely be in-
duced to quit the grave. At length all tears ceased —
she was serene^ but^ from this moment^ indifferent^
to everything that happened in the world ; and,
after some indisposition, here began her proper
inner-life.

At a later period in her somnambulic state, she
alluded to this occurrence at a time when the de-
ceased used often to appear to her as a form of light,
cheering and protecting her from the influence of an
evil spirit.

RETIRING INTO THE INNER-LIFE.

On the borders of Wirtemberg, towards Baden,
and belonging partly to that duchy^ and partly to
that of Hesse, lies a place called KUrnbach, in a low
and gloomy situation, surrounded by mountains, and^
in its atmospherical and geognostic relations, exactly
the reverse of Prevorst and Oberstenfield,

Persons very susceptible to electrical influences
are often cured of their maladies by a change of
residence ; whilst others of the same description,
frequently from a like cause, fall into sicknesses
which the physician cannot account for. Papponi,
a man spoken of by Amoretti, who was very sus-
ceptible to electrical influences, and who suffered

38 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

from convulsions, was cured merely by a change of
residence. Pennet, a man of the same susceptibility,
could not go to rest^ in a certain inn in Calabria, till
he had wrapt himself in an isolating cloak of waxed
cloth.

What sinister influences may have been exerted
on this susceptible being, by her removal to a place
so extremely different from her former residence — for,
after her marriage, she lived at Kiirnbach — can-
not be ascertained. At a later period it was re-
marked^ that the lower the situation she was in the
more she was afflicted by spasms ; whilst, on the
contrary, on the mountains her magnetic condition
was augmented.

However, physical influences, at this time, might
possibly be acting upon her perniciously. Already
Iiaving ceased to exist for the external world, her
duties, as the wife of a man engaged in business,
continually called her back to it, and was thus in
constant contradiction to her inner-life — her home —
which she was thus forced to conceal — a dissimula-
tion which became daily more difficult. For as-
suredly, from the day she stood upon the grave of
her old friend, she was more and more absorbed in
her inner -life, and sunk deeper and deeper into that
condition at which we must all arrive when, as we
pass through the gates of death, the external world
disappears from us — a condition in which dissimula-
tion becomes altogether impossible.

" That the external condition is not proper to
man and to his spirit," says a seer, " appears from

A HE MAGNETIC CONDITION. 09

this^ that^ when he is in the world, he converses
according to the established manners of society;
whilst, at the same time, the inner -thinking governs
the external demeanour, whereby it does not over-
step the limits of propriety and decorum. And
the same thing is evident from the fact, that, when
a man reflects, he debates with himself in what
manner he shall speak and act, so as to ensure re-
spect, friendship, and favour; and his consequent
proceedings are very different to what they would
be if he merely followed the instigations of his will.
Whence it is clear that the inner state in which the
spirit is placed, is its proper state ; and also the pro -
per state of man whilst he lives in the world.'*

For seven months, however, Mrs. H con-
tinued to conform to the customs and ways of
ordinary existence ; but even then, whenever cir-
cumstances permitted, she would fly to solitude in
order to retire into herself; but longer than this she
found it impossible to conceal her internal life, and
substitute for it the semblance of an external one,
which, in reality, did not exist ; her body sank
beneath the effort, and her spirit escaped into its
inner sphere.

THE OUTCOMING OF THE MAGNETIC CONDITION, AND
SKETCH OF A FURTHER PERIOD OF SUFFERING.

It was on the 13th of February 1822 that Mrs.
H , being at the time in her own house, had an

40 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

extraordinary dream. She thought that she was
about to lie down in her bed, when she perceived the
body of that dear friend by whose grave her inner-
life had been kindled, stretched upon it in a shroud.
Without, in another room, she heard the voice of her
father and that of two physicians, one of whom only
was known to her, who were holding a consultation
on some severe illness which had attacked her. She
cried out — '^ Leave me alone by this dead man ! — he
will cure me ! — no physician can !" Then it ap-
peared to her that they sought to force her from the
body ; but the chill of the dead seemed healthful to
her, and, from that alone, she received benefit. She
spoke aloud in her dream : " How well I am near
this corpse ; now, I shall quite recover." At that
time, however, she was not sick. Her husband,
hearing her talk in this manner in her sleep, awoke
her. On the following morning she was attacked
by a fever, that continued for fourteen days with
the greatest violence, and which was followed by
seven years of magnetic life, interrupted only by
short, and merely apparent, intervals. As my per-
sonal observation only embraced the sixth and
seventh of these years, of the preceding ones I can
only give such a superficial sketch as I received from

the lips of Mrs. H herself, her husband, and

other connexions.

After that fever, she was attacked, on the night of
the 27th of February, at one o'clock, by severe
spasms in the breast. She was rubbed and brushed
till her back bled ; and, as she lay without conscious-

THE MAGNETIC CONDITION* 41

ness, the surgeons of the place opened a vein. The
spasms continuing three days, the bleeding was
repeated.

On the second day, a peasant's wife, uncalled for,
came from the village, and, seating herself beside
her, said — " She needs no physician — they cannot
help her;'* and laid her hand on her forehead*
Immediately she was seized with the most direful
spasms, and her forehead was as cold as if she were
dead. During the whole night she cried deliriously
that that woman had exercised a demoniacal influ-
ence upon her ; and, whenever the woman returned,
she was always attacked by spasms. On the third
day they sent to Bretten for a physician ; and being
then in a magnetic condition, she cried to him when
he entered, although she had never seen him — " If
you are a physician, you must help me !" He, well
understanding her malady, laid his hands on her
head ; and it was then remarked that, as long as he
remained in the room, she saw and heard him alone,
and was insensible to the presence of all other
persons.

After he had laid his hands on her she became
calm, and slept for some hours. Some internal
remedies and a bath were prescribed for her, but
the spasms returned in the night, and, for eighteen
weeks, she was attacked by them from twice to five
or six times a-day.

At the same time that she was attacked by these
spasms, her grandmother, of Lowenstein, appeared
to her at night, standing by her bedside, and silently

42 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

looking at her. Three days after she was informed
of the death of that lady, who had expired on that
very night. From that time, she frequently in her
sleep alluded to the presence of her grandmother,
and she afterwards recognized her as her protecting
spirit. It was at this period, also, that, in a dream,
she described some machine, and the mode of its
construction, which was to be the instrument of her
restoration ; she drew the figure of it upon paper,
but no attention was paid to this intimation.

All the remedies that were tried proving ineffica-
cious, the physician had recourse to magnetic passes,
which for a time relieved the spasms. Whereupon
slanderous reports were circulated by people who
took a prejudiced view of her case, and who had
heard that in her agony she frequently called aloud
for this man, and that he alone could give her relief.
She was informed of this circumstance ; but, strong
in her innocence, she listened to it with unconcern,
as she did afterwards to the ill-natured gossip of her
own sex, and all the scandal of which the world made
her the victim.

On one occasion, when she was suffering from se-
vere spasms, the maid-servant relieved her by breath-
ing for an hour on the pit of her stomach.

As she was now in a decidedly magnetic state, it
is probable that a regular course of magnetic treat-
ment might have been beneficial to her ; and indeed
her physician advised it ; but he resided too far from
her to carry this counsel into execution himself ; and
her husband could not bring himself to consent to

THE MAGNETIC CONDITION. 43

her leaving home. Homoeopathic treatment was
then for some time resorted to with success; and
soon afterwards she found herself for the first time
in the family way — a circumstance from which great
hopes of benefit to her health were entertained.

During the period that she was enceinte^ the dream
that she had had some time before was fulfilled.
Whilst she lay ill with spasms, she heard her father
in the adjoining chamber speaking to two physicians,
the voice of one of whom only she recognized. About
this time, she paid a visit to her parents, and took a
great many baths at Lowenstein, which appeared to
strengthen her ; and, in the month of February 1823,
after much sufiering, she was delivered of a child.
Her confinement was followed by long and severe
illness ; and the woman who, on a former occasion,
had produced so injurious an efiect upon her, having
brought the infant some milk, and insisted on admin-
istering it herself, the child was seized with spasms,
and from that time was afi*ected by periodical con-
vulsions of the limbs until its death, which took place
in August ; after which the mother again visited the
baths of Lowenstein, but returned home little bene-
fited, and in very low spirits.

In February 1 824, she received a visit from some
friends, and there was much dancing and merriment
in the house ; she, however, continued sad, and when
all was quiet, she was found at prayers by one of the
company, who laughed at her piety. Whereupon,
she was so much afi'ected, that she became as cold
and stifi* as a corpse. For a long time no respiration

44 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

was perceptible ; at length there was a rattling in
her throat. Baths and other remedies were applied,
and she revived, but only to continued suffering.
She always lay as in a dream.

At one time, she spoke for three days only in verse;
and at another, she saw for the same period nothing
but a ball of fire, that ran through her whole body
as if on thin bright threads. Then for three days
she felt as if water was falling on her head, drop by
drop ; and it was at this time that she first saw her
own image. She saw it clad in white, seated on a
stool, whilst she was lying in bed. She contemplated
the vision for some time, and would have cried out,
but could not. At length she made herself heard,
and on the entrance of her husband it disappeared.

Her susceptibility was now so great, that she heard
and felt what happened at a distance ; and was so
sensible to magnetic influences, that the nails in the
walls annoyed her, and they were obliged to remove
them. Neither could she endure any light.

As nothing seemed to be of service to her, her
friends were induced to try a remedy recommended
by a boy in a magnetic trance ; the effect was that
she became more magnetic, but calmer. Still she
could not endure the light of day, and on being re-
moved to Oberstenfeld in a close carriage, and arriv-
ing there three hours before night fall, she was
obliged to wait till it was dark before she could enter
the house.

She was now placed under the care of Dr. B.,
suffering dreadful spasms and anxieties ; she existed

THE MAGNETIC CONDITION. 45

only through the nervous emanations of others, and
it became necessary that some one should always hold
her hand ; and if the person was weak, it increased
her debility. The physician prescribed magnetic
passes and medicines ; but she fell into the magnetic
sleep, and prescribed for herself. Her greatest suf-
fering arose from the sensation of having a stone in
her head ; it seemed as if her brain was compressed,
and at every breath she drew, the motion pained her.
This sensation disturbed her sleep, which lasted only
as long as a hand was laid on her forehead. At this
time an experiment was made by applying a magnet
to her forehead ; immediately her head and face were
turned rounds and her mouth was distorted^ as by a
stroke of palsy. These symptoms continued two days,
after which they disappeared of themselves.

About this time, for seven days, at seven o'clock
in the evening, she felt she was magnetized by a
spirit, which was visible only to herself. In this
spirit she recognized her grandmother, who magne-
tized her with three fingers outspread like rays, the
passes being directed to the epigastric region. It is
an incomprehensible circumstance, though believed
by many trustworthy persons, that during this period,
articles whose near neighbourhood to her was inju-
rious, were removed by an unseen hand ; such objects,
— a silver spoon, for example, — would be perceptibly
conveyed from her hand to a more convenient dis-
tance, and laid on a plate ; not thrown, for the things
passed slowly through the air, as lifted by invisible
agency.

46* THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

When in deep sleep, she now declared that magne-
tism alone could save her.

It was about this period that, for the first time,
she began to see another person behind the one she
was looking at. Thus, behind her youngest sister
she saw her deceased brother, Henry ; and behind a
female friend, she saw the ghostly form of an old
woman, whom she had known in her childhood at
Lbwenstein.

After this, a course of magnetic treatment was
prescribed by her uncle, and followed up by Dr.

B , at first without success. She seemed, indeed,

unable to endure the presence of her magnetiser, who
was frequently obliged to quit the room. At length
this dislike subsided— her strength improved — she
took long walks, and occupied herself with ordinary
feminine occupations ; though she was still in a mag-
netic state, and slept every seven days — at a later
period, every seven weeks. For long intervals she
was only in a half- waking state ; though she would
walk out in the snow and rain, and preferred being
in the cold. She was extremely susceptible to all
sorts of spiritual influences : prophetic dreams, divi-
nations, and prophetic visions in glass and mirrors,
gave evidence of her inner-life. Thus, in a glass of
water that stood upon the table, she saw some per-
sons, who, half an hour afterwards, entered the room.
She also saw, in the same manner, a carriage tra-
velling on the road to B , which was not visible

from where she was. She described the vehicle, the
persons that were in it, the horses, &c. ; and in half

INCREASED SUFFERINGS, ETC. 47

an hour afterwards this equipage arrived at the house.
At this time she seemed also endued with the second
sight. One morning, on leaving the room during the
visit of her physician, she saw a cofl&n standing in
the hall, which impeded her way ; in it lay the body
of her paternal grandfather. She returned, and bade
her parents and physician come out and see it ; but
they could see nothing, nor, at that time, she either.
On the following morning the coffin, with the body
in it, was standing by her bed- side. Six weeks after-
wards the grandfather died, having been in perfect
health until a few days of his death.

The gift of ghost-seeing, which Mrs. H* had

from her childhood, was, in the meantime, constantly
developing itself. The two most remarkable histo-
ries, relating to the period in question, will be found
in the second part of this volume.

INCREASED SUFFERINGS, AND DEEPENING OF THE MAG-
NETIC CONDITIONS.

A second confinement, which took place on the
28th of December, was followed by a fever, during

which Mrs. H was delirious, and fancied herself

lying in an immense church ; spasms, and an aggra-
vated magnetic condition ensued. Ordinary reme-
dies proving inefficacious, magnetic passes were again
tried, and her brother was usually the operator ; but,
in his absence, several other persons were induced,
at the request of her distressed parents, to undertake

48 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the office : a thing not only, unfortunately, injurious
to her reputation, but, from the different nervous
temperaments of these people, to her health also ;
for it brought her into a deeper magnetic condition,
and, at the same time, rendered her from habit more
dependent on the nervous energy of others. A more
judicious treatment might have rescued this unhappy
lady from much suffering and misrepresentation.

It is remarkable that her infant, especially during
the first week of his life, always slept in the attitude
she assumed in her magnetic sleep — namely, with
his arms and feet crossed. It will be seen after-
wards that he also was endowed with the unhappy
gift of ghost-seeing.

A friend, who was often about her at this period,
writes me, — '^ Whenever I place my finger on her
forehead, between the eyebrows, she always says
something that has relation to me and the state of
my soul, as the following :- —

" When thou enterest into the tumult of the
world, hold the Lord fast in thy heart :'

" If any one would lead thee to err against thy
conscience, flee unto the Lord : "

" Let not the light that is in thee be extinguished,"
&c. &c.

Her spasms, somnambulism, &c., still continuing,
the people about her, unable to comprehend her
situation, became weary and disgusted; she grew
worse and worse — she was attacked by night-sweats
and diarrhoea; and they reproached her that, in
spite of all this, she still lived. They exerted force

INCREASED SUFFERINGS, ETC. 49

to make her sit up, but in vain ; and they obliged
her to get out of bed, but she fell to the ground
without consciousness. Then they began to suspect
that her illness was the effect of demoniacal influ-
ence, and they had recourse to a man who had a
reputation for performing cures by sympathetic
means. Upon this, people accused the family of

Mrs. H of being gloomy and unbelieving, be-

cause they had recourse to such aid. But do not
the most cultivated and learned men the same?
Have not many diseases been cured by sympathetic
means ? and did not celebrated physicians frequently

send patients they found incurable to Mrs. H ?

This man gave her a green powder, which she ob-
jected to take ; but they forced her to do so. On
her taking it a second time, she became immediately
able to stand ; but she ran about quite rigidly ; and,
after a few steps, ran round in a circle, as if in a fit
of St. Yitus*s dance.

She was now never thoroughly awake ; her voice
was shrill ; she spoke high German, and a strange
language, which she also wrote, and which she called
her inner tongue, of which we shall speak further by
and by. When she spoke this language she was in a
half-waking state ; and when she wished to speak in
the ordinary manner, she made some magnetic
passes on herself. With the powder, the man sent
an amulet of black lead, which hung to a triple
thread. Every Friday a message was sent to the
man, according to his desire, although it took seven
hours to reach him. She said in her sleep — ^* He
p

50 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

wants me to request him to come himself ; and^ if it
be not done, he will stick needles into certain plants
in his cellar, whereby I shall become more subject to
him, and suffer more anxiety and uneasiness. I
must write to him myself ! " This she did in her
sleep ; the letter was sent, and the man came. He
had a dark, rough, repelling aspect, with bright bull-
like eyes. When he arrived, she was lying in a
magnetic sleep ; and she explained, that he must not
enter the room until he had said — ^' I believe that
Jesus Christ was the true Son of God, begot by the
Father in eternity." He did so, and then he was
allowed to enter; but she did not speak to him.
She begged that, when she awoke, they would take
care that he did not take her hand, which he would
desire to do ; but begged them not to speak to him
on the subject, as he would be offended. They did
their utmost to prevent it, but without success : he
took her hand, and, on the instant, it became bent
and contracted in the most frightful manner; and
they could not restore it to its natural state, either
by blowing or magnetizing. She then became som-
nambulic, and said that they must dip the hand in
running water, and afterwards wash it in warm wine.
They did so, and the contraction disappeared.

Though the powder made her more magnetic, she
continued to take it in very small doses, lest, as she
said, the man should bring mischief on her. Strange
to say, at this time, the amulet that he gave her
would occasionally, of its own accord, untouched by
any one, run about her head, breast, and bed-cover-

INCREASED SUFFERINGS, ETC. 51

ing, like a living thing, so that they had to pick it
up from the floor and restore it to her. This in-
credible circumstance happened in the presence of
many trustworthy witnesses, who testify to the fact.
She wore this amulet on her back for a quarter of a
year. When she was committed to my care, I ex-
amined it, and found it to contain asafoetida, sabina,
cyanus, two stramonium seeds, a small magnet, and
a piece of paper, on which was written these words —
" The Son of God came to destroy the works of the
devil!"

Hearing of her long sickness, her parents wrote
to request her husband to fetch her to Kiirnbach.
She was averse to the journey, but consented in
order to relieve her parents' fatigue ; but the con-
sequences were severe illness, and they were at
length obliged to bring her back ; on this occasion,
small doses of opium were found useful.

She was now attacked by an excessive irritability
of the nerves of the stomach ; and unless food were
administered every minute, she fell into an alarming
state of weakness. Medicine afforded her but little,
relief; and, on account of the distance of the phy-
sician's residence, they were obliged to bring her to
her uncle at Lowenstein. Here she slept every
evening, and prescribed for herself; but no more
confidence being placed in her prescriptions, they
were not followed. It was at this time I was called
in to her. I had never seen her, but I had heard
many false and perverted accounts of her ; and I
must confess that I shared the world's opinions^ and

52 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

gave credit to its lies. I therefore desired that no
notice whatever should be taken of her magnetic
state, nor of her directions to treat her magnetically,
and place her in relation with people of strong
nervous temperament; — in short, I desired that
every thing should be done to draw her out of the
magnetic condition — that she should be treated care-
fully, but by ordinary medical means.

My friend, Dr Off, of Lbwenstein, agreed with
me in opinion, and we commenced a regular course
of treatment ; but we were disappointed. Dysentery,
spasms, night-sweats, still continued ; her gums be-
came scorbutic, bled constantly, and she lost all her
teeth. By giving her tonics, a feeling was induced
as if she was lifted into the air; she was afraid of
everybody, and at night was often attacked by a
death-like debility.

Her friends hoped to exorcise the demoniacal in-
fluence by prayer. From that time every thing be-
came indifferent to her — she was as if hardened.
Her death would have been a blessing ; she suffered
martyrdom, but died not. Her friends were in the
greatest grief and perplexity; and, fortunately,
though much against my will, they brought her to
Weinsberg to see if anything could be done for her
there.

HER APPEARANCE IN WEINSBERG.

Mrs, H — — arrived at Weinsberg, on the 25th
November 1826, a picture of death — wasted to a

APPEARANCE IN WEINSBERG. 53

skeleton, and unable to rise or to lie down without
assistance. Every three or four minutes it was
necessary to give her a spoonful of broth, which she
often could not swallow, but spat out again ; yet^
without it she fainted, or had spasms. She had
many frightful symptoms^ and fell into a magnetic
trance every evening at seven o'clock. This used
to begin with crossing her arms, and prayer. Then
she would stretch them out ; and, when she after-
wards laid them on the bed, began to talk, her eyes
being shut^ and her face lighted up. On the even-
ing of her arrival, when asleep, she asked for me ;
but I sent her word that I could only see her when
she was awake. When she awoke I went to her,
and declared, shortly and seriously, that I was de-
termined to take no notice of what she said in her
sleep, nor would I be even informed of it ; and that
this somnambulic state, which had caused her friends
so much unhappiness, must come to an end. I ac-
companied this declaration with some very strong
expressions, for it was my firm resolution to treat
her case by purely medicinal means. I desired that
no notice whatever should be taken of her when she
lay in a sleep- waking state, and commenced a regu-
lar course of homoeopathic remedies. But the very
smallest doses of medicine always produced in her
effects the reverse of what I expected; she was
attacked by many alarming symptoms, and it ap-
peared probable that her end was approaching; and for
this result her friends were fully prepared. In short,
it was too late for the plan I proposed to be of any

54 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

service to her. Owing to the operation of so many
different kinds of magnetic influence, her nervous
system was brought into so unusual and abnormal
a condition, that she could no longer exist by her
own nervous energy, but only by that borrowed
from other people; as, in a short time, it became evi-
dent that she did. It was affecting to see with what
earnestness, when she was asleep, she sought the
means of her own cure; and the physician might
blush to see how much more efficacious means she
prescribed for herself, than he and his pharmacopoeia
could furnish.

Thus, when I had for some weeks pursued my
proposed medicinal treatment, I asked her, when
asleep, whether a constant and regular course of
magnetism would be of use to her ? She said, that
she could not answer till the next evening, at seven
o'clock^ after she had had seven magnetic passes.
As I was determined to avoid having anything to do
with her magnetic relations, I employed a friend to
make the passes ; and the result was, that sh^ said
a gentle course of magnetism, continued for seven
days^ would help to restore her.

The consequence of the seven passes was, that, to
her own astonishment — for she knew nothing of what
had been done — she could sit up in bed on the fol-
lowing morning, and felt stronger than she had done
during the whole of my medical attendance. For
twenty-seven days, therefore, a regular course of
magnetism was followed up, and her own sleep-
i^aking directions strictly attended to, all others be-

APPEARANCE IN WEINSBERG. 55

ing laid aside ; and although restoration to health
was no longer possible, and many distressing symp-
toms were often present, yet, by these means, this
unfortunate lady was as much relieved as the nature
of her case rendered practicable ; but the shock she
received, from the death of her father, entirely coun-
teracted this beneficial influence, and, for the future,
all that remained to her was the life of a sylph.

The events of this incorporeal life — many intima*
tions respecting the inner-life of man, and of the
existence of a world of spirits amongst us — together
with what we can recall of the time when our
Psyche, freed from the earth that was about her,
unfolded her wings, to fly unchecked through time
and space — are to form the contents of this book. I
give mere facts, and leave the explanation of them
to others.

There have been theories enough advanced to ac-
count for these phenomena. They are all known to
me ; but I must be allowed to accept none of them.
I shall only seek to shew, by various examples
of similar apparitions, that the revelations of this
sleep-waking patient discovered nothing but what is
founded in nature, and had frequently been observed
before. But such visions rarely pierce the thick en-
velope of ordinary life, and are but lightning glimpses
of a higher region.

56 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

A DESCRIPTION OF THIS LADY.

Long before the commencement of my magnetic

treatment, Mrs. H was so entirely somnambulic

that, as we were afterwards convinced, her waking
state was only apparent. Doubtless^ she was then
much more really awake than other people ; for this
condition, although it is not called so, is that of the
most perfect vigilance.

In this state she had no organic strength, but de-
pended wholly on that of other people, which she
received chiefly through the eyes and the ends of the
fingers. She said that she drew her life wholly from
the air, and the nervous emanations of others, by
which they lost nothing ; but it is not superfluous to
mention, that many persons said that they did lose
strength by being long in proximity to her, and that
they felt a contraction in the limbs, a tremor, &c. &c.
Many persons also, when near her, were sensible of
a weakness in the eyes and at the pit of the stomach,
even to fainting; and she admitted that she gained
most strength from the eyes of powerful men.

From her own relations she extracted more vigour
than from others ; and, as she grew weaker, from
them only she derived benefit. By the proximity of
weak and sickly people, she grew weaker, just as
flowers lose their beauty, and perish, under the same
circumstances. She also drew nourishment from the

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEERESS. 57

air^ and^ even in the coldest weather, could not live
without an open window.

She was sensible of the spiritual essences of all
things, of which we have no perception ; especially
of metals, plants, men, and animals. All impon-
derable matters, even the different colours of the
prism, produced on her sensible effects. She was
susceptible of electric influences, of which we are
not conscious ; and, what is almost incredible, she
had a preternatural feeling, or consciousness, of hu-
man writing.

From her eyes there shone a really spiritual light,
of which every one who saw her became immediately
sensible ; and, whilst in this state, she was more a
spirit than a being of mortal mould. Should we
compare her to a human being, we should rather say
that she was in the state of one who, hovering be-
tween life and death, belonged rather to the world
he was about to visit, than the one he was going to
leave.

This is not merely a poetical expression, but lite-
rally true. We know that men, in the moment of
death, have often glimpses of the other world, and
evince their knowledge of it. We see that a spirit
partially leaves the body, before it has wholly shaken
off its earthly husk. Could we thus maintain any
one for years in the condition of a dying person, we

should have the exact representation of Mrs. H *s

condition. And this is not the language of fiction,
but of simple truth.

She was frequently in that state in which persons,

58 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

who, like her, have had the faculty of ghost-seeing,
perceive their own spirit out of their body, which
only enfolds it as a thin gauze. She often saw her-
self out of her body, and sometimes double. She said,
" It often appears to me that I am out of my body,
and then I hover over it, and think of it ; but this
is not a pleasant feeling, because I recognize my body.
But if my soul were bound more closely to my nerve-
spirit, then would this be in closer union with my
nerves ; but the bonds of my nerve-spirit are be-
coming daily weaker."

It appeared, indeed^ as if her nerve-spirit was so
loosely connected with her nerves, that, on the slight-
est movement, it set itself free ; whence she saw
herself out of her body, or double ; and her body had
also lost all feeling of weight.

Mrs. H had neither accomplishment or arti-
ficial cultivation. She had been taught no language ;
and knew nothing of history, geography, natural
history, nor had any of those acquirements so com-
mon to her sex. During her long years of sufiering,
the Bible and Psalm-book were her only studies.
Her moral character was blameless. She was pious
without hypocrisy ; and even her long sufifering, and
the strange nature of it, she looked upon as from the
grace of God, and frequently expressed these feelings
in verse.

Because I sometimes made verses, people chose to
say that I had communicated this talent to her by
my magnetic influence ; but she spoke in verse before
I attended her; and it was not without a deep sig-

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEERESS. 59

nificance that Apollo was called the god of the phy-
sician, the poet, and the prophet. Sleep-waking
giv^es the power to prophecy, to heal, and to compose
rerses. How well did the ancients understand the
magnetic state ! How clearly do we discover it in
their mysteries ! The great physician, Galen, was
indebted to his nightly dreams for much of his medi-
cal science. I am acquainted with a peasant girl
who does not know how to write, and who yet, in
her magnetic state, always speaks in rhythm.

The falsehoods the world propagated on the sub-
ject of Mrs. H are inconceivable; and never

did I meet with so convincing a proof of its love of
calumny as in this instance. She was wont to say,
'^ They have power over my body, but not over
my mind ;** but the number of persons who were
attracted to her bed-side, out of mere curiosity, oc-
casioned me great annoyance. For her part, she
received every body with kindness, although the
exertion frequently gave her pain ; and she often
defended those who had most slandered her. Good
and bad alike, came to her. She was conscious of
the evil where it existed, but she judged no one ; and
many unbelieving sinners, who visited her, were
amended, and awakened to a conviction of a future
life.

Many years before Mrs. H was brought to

me, the earth, with its atmosphere, and every thing
connected with it — mankind not excepted — had
ceased to be anything for her. She had long needed
more than mortal aid could yield her : she needed"

60 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

other skies — other nourishment — other airs, than this
planet could afford her. She was more than half a
spirit, and belonged to a world of spirits — she be-
longed to a world after death, and was herself more
than half dead. That in the early years of her ill-
ness Mrs. H might, by judicious treatment have

been restored to a condition more fit for this world,
is exceedingly probable ; but^ at a later period, this
was impossible. However, by much care, we did so
far improve her condition, that, in spite of many
efforts made to poison her peace, she looked upon
the years she spent at Weinsberg as the least painful
of her magnetic life.

As we have said^ her fragile body enveloped her
spirit, but as a gauzy veil. She was small — her fea-
tures were oriental — her eyes piercing and prophetic ;
and their expression was heightened by her long,
dark eye-lashes. She was a delicate flower, and
lived upon sunbeams.

Eschenmayer says of her in his " Mysteries,"
'' Her natural disposition was gentle, kind, and seri-
ous ; ever disposed to contemplation and prayer ;
her eyes had something spiritual in their expression,
and always remained clear and bright in spite of her
great suffering. They were penetrating, and in con-
versation very varying ; they were sometimes sud-
denly fixed, and seemed to emit sparks, a certain
sign that she beheld some strange apparitions. When
this happened, she would presently burst forth into
words. Her corporeal life, when I first saw her, pro-
mised no long duration ; and she was past all hope of

EXTERNAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. 61

restoration to a condition fitting her for this world.
Without any very evident functional derangement,
her life appeared but a glimmering torch. She was,
as Kerner expressed it, a being in the gripe of death,
but chained to the body by magnetic power. Soul
and spirit seemed to me often divided, and whilst
the first was still entangled with the body, the latter
spread its wings and fluttered into other regions."

HER EXTERNAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND CONNEXION WITH
THE PHYSICAL WORLD.

In stones and metals, as well as in plants and ani-
mal bodies, there dwell many elements and powers
of which we only become sensible when we step out
of that isolation in which our daily life retains us.
This is not only perceptible in the magnetic state,
but more or less in all nervous temperaments.

Thus the phenomena of rhabdomancy to a vast
number of persons are indisputable facts ; developing
themselves more or less apparently, as the nerve-
spirit is more or less capable of setting itself free.
Del Rio relates, that in Spain there is a race of
people called Zahuris, who can see things hidden
under the earth, as water, veins of metal, and dead
bodies. Gamasche, a Portuguese, who lived in the
beginning of the 1 8th century, had the faculty of
discerning water and metals at a considerable depth
under ground. Zschokke mentions a young girl

62 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

Who exhibited the phenomena of rhabdomancy in a
remarkable degree; Ritters experiments with the
peasant Campetti are well known; and numerous
instances of the susceptibility of sleep-wakers to the
hidden properties of stones and metals are on record.
The ancients, also, especially Orpheus, attribute ex-
traordinary secret powers to stones, metals, and
roots.

The High Priest of the Jews wore a breast-plate,
studded with jewels, on the pit of the stomach, which
were used in order to the enunciation of the Divine
prophecies. Aristotle, Dioscorides, Galen, Pliny,
and many others, allude to the magic power of stones,
which were used as talismans and charms. Theo-
phrastus says, that by carrying certain stones about
him, he has escaped fevers ; and that the Magi pre-
pared stones which cured or averted various diseases.
But, he adds, that these stones have no longer the
same properties, the aspect of the heavens not being
the same.

But even were the heavens the same, which thev
aj-e not, mankind is changed ; and for that reason
they look upon these notions of the ancients as mere
fiction. When man was nearer nature, and less en -
tangled with the clay that envelopes him than he
has since become by civilization, he was sensible of
spiritual influences, and even of the hidden proper-
ties of stones. But now^ with his threefold garment
of earth about him, he is only susceptible of chemical
and mechanical influences ; and it needs poisons ex-
tracted from the three kingdoms of nature (as our pre-

EXTERNAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. 63

sent medical practice testifies) to penetrate this isolat-
ed mass. But the magnetic life shows^us many phe-
nomena that prove the reality of much that we have
been accustomed to look upon as dreams of the poet.
In the East, there is still the same belief in the
power of stones ; and jewels are worn, not only as
ornaments, but as talismans.

Schubert, in his Natural History, observes, that it
appears from many observations, that the mineral
kingdom has a deep and magical connexion with the
nature of man and his spiritual relations ; and mag-
netic clairvoyance has exhibited eflfects, not only
from contact, but from the mere neighbourhood of
metals, that are certainly neither chemical nor me-
chanical.*

These results appear rather the effects of a peculiar
indwelling spirit, (Geist) whether magnetic or elec-
trical, of which we are ordinarily not sensible. It is
remarkable that coloured stones produced much more
effect upon Mrs. H , than those that were colour-

* We here omit the details of the various experiments with
metals, stones, plants, &c. which would probably be found tedious,
and would swell this little work to too large a size. Suffice it
to say, that almost every substance produced specific and very
evident effects upon the nervous system of the Seherin, by being
merely held in her hand. The experiments seem to have been
made with great caution ; and it was always observed that her
left side was the most susceptible. This general susceptibility
was to have been expected. In some slight degree the same
thing takes place with the healthy organism. The practised
sense of an experienced chemist will detect many substances by
touch. It is related of Werner, that he could tell the specific

64 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

less. Ennemoser mentions a very susceptible woman
who was always excited by the sight of the ruby, but

calmed by looking at crystal. Mrs. H , however,

never looked at the minerals. The experiments were
made by placing them in her hand, without telling
her what they were. She was very sensible of the
effects of glass and crystal ; they awakened her from
her somnambulic state ; and if allowed to lie long on
the pit of her stomach, produced catalepsy. She
was affected in the same manner by sand, or even
standing for some time near a glass window. The
odour of sand and glass was very perceptible and
very agreeable to her ; but if she chanced to seat her-
self on a sandstone bench, she was apt to become
cataleptic ; and once, having been for some time
missed, she was at length found at the top of the
house, seated on a heap of sand, so rigid, that she
had been unable to move away from it.

Our experiments with respect to the effects of
minerals on Mrs. H were confirmed in other

gravity of a mineral with great accuracy by means of his long-
trained muscular sense. Some blind people have been able to
discriminate colours with the tips of the fingers. Doubtless,
every substance has its specific relation to the nervous system of
man ; its peculiar smoothness or roughness, its peculiar power of
conducting heat, its peculiar electromotive power, and so on.
Accordingly, all that these experiments seem to establish is the

obvious fact, that in Mrs. H there was developed an enor^

mous intensification of ordinary sensibility ; and this suggests the
very important inquiry, which of the phenomena manifested by
mesmeric patients are not reducible to this head ? An analysis
of this sort would leave the residuary facts all the more distinct
and accessible to investigation. — Translator.

SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY. 65

forms — namely^ by placing a divining rod, or pen-
dulum of hazel, in her left hand, which she held
over the different substances; and we then found
that those which produced no effects on her had no
attraction for the wand, and vice versa. These
experiments might have been carried much farther —
as by placing the various substances on the pit of
her stomach, for example — had I not apprehended
the effects on her excitable constitution.

EFFECTS OF WATER, AND SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY.

If Mrs. H held water in her hand, she be-
came immediately weak. By day, she could take
no fluid without feeling giddy ; but after sunset, this
inconvenience no longer existed. During the day,
however intense the heat, she was never thirsty.
In her sleep-waking state, she could distinguish
the magnetic passes that I had made over a glass of
water, they appearing darker than the water itself;
and when she was very clairvoyante, she could by
this means tell me how many passes I had made,
and did so always correctly.

When she was placed in a bath in this state,
extraordinary phenomena were exhibited — namely,
that her limbs, breast, and the lower part of her
person, possessed by a strange elasticity, involun-
tarily emerged from the water. Her attendants

66 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

used every effort to submerge her body, but she
could not be kept down ; and had she at these times
been thrown into a river, she would no more have
sunk than a cork.

This circumstance reminds us of the test applied
to witches, who were often, doubtless, persons under
magnetic conditions ; and thus, contrary to the
ordinary law, floated on water. Andrew MoUers
mentions a woman, who lived in 1620, who, being
in a magnetic state, rose suddenly from the bed into
the air, in the presence of many persons, and hovered
several yards above it, as if she would have flown
out of the window. The assistants called upon
God, and forced her down again. Privy Counsellor
Horst speaks of a man in the same condition, who,
in the presence of many respectable witnesses, as-
cended into the air, and hovered over the heads of
the people present, so that they ran underneath
him, in order to defend him from injury should he
fall. Something of the same sort is observed in
natural sleepwalkers, who can maintain themselves
in the most perilous situations, and, if they fall, are
seldom hurt. The Indian jugglers, also, and persons
in St Yitus's dance, do many things in defiance of

the ordinary laws of gravity. When Mrs. H ,

however, awoke from her magnetic trance, she was
very sensible of the weight of bodies ; and an ap-
parently light person would often appear to her
heavier than one of much larger dimensions. She
was conscious of weight, independently of matter —
she said there was such a thing as moral weight.

SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY. 6?

If I placed my fingers against hers, they were at-
tracted as by a magnet ; and I could thus lift her
from the ground.

Many similar phenomena have been observed,
especially those at the tomb of the Abbe Paris in
1724, to which sick persons resorted in crowds, and
permitted themselves to be beaten by strong men
with all sorts of weapons, and even to be laid under
a plank, on which as many as twenty or more per-
sons stood ; and this not only without pain or injury,
but with advantage. We observe the same pheno-
mena in the witch-trials of the middle ages, where
great weights were used as instruments of torture,
but were, in many instances, unfelt by the victim :
and this suspension of gravity has been also found in
persons who have led very ascetic lives, and with-
drawn themselves into the depths of the inner-life.

According to the testimony of St. Theresa, Peter
of Alcantara, for fourteen years, allowed himself but
half an hour s sleep, and that he took sitting, with
his head leaning on a post ; he lived on bread and
water, which he took at intervals of three, and some-
times of eight, days, till, by this mortification of
his body, it became transparent, and he saw
through it as through a veil. His spirit fteing in
constant communion with God, he was frequently
enveloped in a lustrous light, and lifted into the air.
St. Theresa, also, felt her soul, and then her head,
and, finally, her whole body, lifted from the earth ;
and, in the sight of all the sisterhood, she floated over
the grate of the door. Many such instances are re-

G8 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

corded in the lives of the saints — phenomena which
we cannot comprehend, and therefore pronounce to
be fables.

The laurel had also a remarkable effect on Mrs,

H 5 and this accounts for the use of it in the

temples of Delphi, Esculapius, &c. &c. She also
found the hazel-nut tree, which has been long used
amongst the people for purposes of divination, a
powerful magnetic conductor. I myself lately saw
the hands and arms of a healthy woman rendered
stiff by holding the hazel wand. It is probably from
an altered condition, and the use of strong stimulants
of various kinds, that we are no longer susceptible
of these more delicate influences.

The hoof of an elephant produced on Mrs. H

a sort of epileptic fit ; and it is remarkable that,
amongst the ancients, an elephant's hoof was con-
sidered beneficial in this disease; and that this
animal is believed by naturalists to be itself very
subject to epilepsy. This ancient opinion accords
with the modern system of homoeopathy. The horn
of the chamois was also considered good for the
cramp ; and the Tyrolese to this day frequently wear
finger-rings of this horn, which they call cramp-
rings. ^

The nipples of a horse, the tooth of a mammoth,
bezoar, a spider's web, the glow-worm, &;c. &c.j
all produced specific effects on being placed in her
hand ; and a few drops of acid, produced by animal
putrefaction, exhibited the symptoms that follow the
eating a decayed sausage. " These singular effects,"

SUSPENSION OF GRAVITY. 69

says Schubert, " throw much light on the relations
in which we stand to external nature. When the
soul, itself vigorous, rules over the body, these in-
fluences are scarcely perceptible to us ; but, when it
drops the rein, and (as in the case of the Seeress of
Prevorst) retires into the depths within, the forsaken
and susceptible body is awakened to these hidden
properties. It is remarkable that the cramps and
rigidities produced by minerals, which were often
very painful to behold, were not unfrequently ulti-
mately beneficial."

A few small diamonds placed in the hand of Mrs,

H caused an extraordinary dilatation of the

eyes, and an immobility of the pupil, together with a
stiffness of the left hand and right foot. The effects
of all substances was much greater when placed on
her hand, than when swallowed^ either as food or
medicine.

Doubtless, our insensibility to external influences
is much increased by the habit of taking food and
liquids of an exciting nature. When the ancients
desired to subject a patient to these hidden powers,
they prepared him for the operation by a course of
extreme temperance. The modern practice of me-
dicine, denominated homoeopathic^ acts in tw> ways —
first, by the removal of all excitements, and, secondly,
by the repetition of medicines, whose extreme sub-
division reminds us of the experiments of Robert
Brown, who, having reduced the particles of the
body to the smallest atoms, perceived in them what
seemed to be a spontaneous and independent animal

70 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

motion. It would appear that these substances,
when mixed with water, have an electrical action
upon the cuticle, as was the case with the Seherin,
instead of acting, as do ordinary medicines, by as-
similation, through the intestinal canal. As long as
the atoms are combined in a mass, they merely obey
the law of cohesion ; their extreme sub-division, by
exposing them to electrical influences, gave them
this motion, which the delicate microscope dis-
covered.

Is not the reflection, that our bodies, like a fine-
stringed instrument, are moved by the lightest airs
that blow upon them, calculated to make us sad?
Our joys and sorrows, and often even our will, are
under the influence of powers to us altogether im-
perceptible, and whose subtle effects we cannot elude.
But it appears that, properly considered, the relation
in which the power of the soul stands to the body,
is very different to that of the external elements.
As the bird in the cage is excited to a more vigorous
exertion of its voice, by the noises and discords that
surround it, so is the nature of man nourished and
strengthened by the variety of opposing influences
that assail him on every side. The stormy wind
refreshes his respiratory organs — his food and drink
give him vigour; but it is the ruling power of the
soul that decrees how, and to what extent, they shall
operate.

When the young prisoner in the king's palace be-
sought the chamberlain to give him roots and water,
instead of the luxurious food and wine from the king's

IMPONDERABLE SUBSTANCES. 71

table ; the chamberlain, fearing the anger of his lord,
limited the indulgence to a few days, lest the face of
the boy, by this poor diet, should look more miserable
than those of his companions. But, lo ! the days
having elapsed, the boy looked handsomer and bet-
ter than all the others ; so Melzar took away their
rich food and drinks, and gave them roots and water
also.

Thus, the spring of all nourishment and abundance,
whether of the inner or outer man, is not to be found
where we seek it : it lies deep in the spirituality of
our nature — there, where no external evils can reach,
to trouble it or dry it up.

EFFECTS OF IMPONDERABLE SUBSTANCES.

The light of the sun produced various physical

effects on Mrs. H . Amongst others, it gave her

the headach; and, in her sleep, she desired that a
glass should be laid on the pit of her stomach, when
she was exposed to his light ; and this, by aug -
menting her isolation, enabled her to bear it. The
different colours in a ray of light had, also, each its
peculiar effect. The light of the moon did not affect
her, unless she looked at it ; then it produced melan-
choly, and a cold shiver. She was very much affected
by lightning — perceived flashes that were invisible to
us, and felt others before we saw them. On touching
her with a finger, during an electrical state of the

72 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

atmosphere, she saw small flashes, which ascended
to the ceiling — from men these were colourless,
from women blue ; and she perceived emanations of
the same sort, and with the same variation of colour,
from people's eyes. Rain-water^ fallen during a
storm, she could not drink, on account of the heat it
occasioned ; but, at other times^ it was agreeable to
her. As may be imagined, she was much affected by
electricity, in all its forms.

Mrs. H could not exist without an open

window : she said that she extracted a vivifying
principle from the air. She was also of opinion, that
the opening a window, at the moment of a soul's
departure, is not a mere superstition, but that it
actually facilitates its escape ; and that there is some
substance in the air, which spirits make use of to
render themselves audible and visible to mortals.
This substance she believed to be prejudicial to all ;
but its effects were not perceived, except by herself.
Jamblich is of opinion, that the parting soul is en-
veloped in a robe of air, which takes on the contour
of the person. Paracelsus affirms, that man is not
only fed through his stomach, but through all his
limbs, which draw in nourishment from the four ele-
ments out of which he is formed.

Mrs. H was extremely sensible of all conta-
gious and epidemic influences. The higher she was
in space, the more abnormal and magnetic was her
condition : this was observable, even in the different
floors of a house. In a valley, she felt oppressed
and weighed down, and was attacked by convulsions.

THE HUMAN EYE. 73

She was affected by wind, especially when it was
gusty; and, though shut up in a room, could tell
from what point it blew.

Music frequently threw Mrs. H into a som-
nambulic state ; she became clearer, and spoke in
rhythm. She would make me magnetise the water
she drank by sounds from the Jew's-harp ; and when
I had done this unknown to her, on drinking water
so prepared, she involuntarily began to sing. The
prophet Elisha gives an example of how the inner-
life is quickened by music : ^^ When he was brought
before the King of Israel, he bade them bring in a
musician ; and when the musician touched the strings,
the hand of the Lord was upon Elisha, and he pro-
phesied."

ON THE HUMAN EYE.

When Mrs. H looked into the right eye of a

person, she saw, behind the reflected image of herself,
another, which appeared neither to be her own, nor
that of the person in whose eye she was looking.
She believed it to be the picture of that person's
inner-self. In many persons, this internal image
appeared more earnest than the external, or the re-
verse : it bespoke the character of the person ; but,
with many, it was more beautiful and pure than the
other. If she looked into the left eye, she saw im-
mediately whatever internal disease existed — whether

74 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

in the stomach, lungs, or elsewhere — and prescribed
for it. In my left eye she saw prescriptions for her-
self; and in that of a man, who had only a left eye,
she saw both his inward malady, and the image of
his inner man. In the right eye of an animal, as a
dog or a fowl, she saw a blue flame — doubtless its
immortal part, or soul. Of which Schubert observes,
" that we often see, in the eyes of an animal, glimpses
of a hidden, secret world, as through a door, uniting
the other world with this ; and there frequently ap-
pears in the eyes of dying animals, uselessly slain or
tortured by the hand of man, a gleam of deep self-
consciousness, which is prepared to bear witness
against us in the other world."

She said, that it was not with her fleshly, but with
her spiritual eye, which lay beneath it, that she saw
this second image in the eyes of others, and also dis-
cerned spirits. It was by this inner-eye that Jacob
Bbhm beheld the whole creation, and saw into the
essences, use, and properties of plants, &c. &c. The

eyes of some persons immediately threw Mrs. H

into the sleep-waking state. Soap-bubbles, glass,
and mirrors, excited her spiritual eye. A child hap-
pening to blow soap-bubbles : She exclaimed, '^ Ah !
my God ! I behold in the bubbles every thing I think
of, although it be distant — not in little, but as large
as life — ^but it frightens me." I then made a soap-
bubble, and bade her look for her child that was far
away. She said she saw him in bed, and it gave her
much pleasure. At another time she saw my wife,
who was in another house, and described precisely

THE PIT OF THE STOMACH. 75

the situation she was in at the moment — a point I
took care immediately to ascertain. She was^ how-
ever, with difficulty induced to look into these soap-
bubbles : she seemed to shudder, and she was afraid
she might see something that would alarm her. In
one of these she once saw a small coffin, standing
before a neighbouring house. At that time there was
no child sick, but, shortly afterwards, the lady who
lived there was confined. The child lived but a few

months, and Mrs. H saw it carried from the

house in a coffin. If we wished her to recall dreams
which she had forgotten, it was only necessary to
make her look at a soap-bubble^ and her memory of
them immediately returned. She often saw persons,
that were about to arrive at the house, in a glass of
water ; but when she was invited to this sort of divi-
nation, and did it unwillingly, she was sometimes
mistaken.

SEEING WITH THE PIT OP THE STOMACH.

The following phenomena are similar to those
known of somnambulic persons, who could read what
was laid on the pit of the stomach ; or else^ by the
sense of feeling, obtained a knowledge of it. I gave

Mrs. H two pieces of paper, carefully folded :

on one of which I had secretly written, ^^ There is a
God;" on the other, " There is no God." I put
them into her left hand, when she was apparently
awake, and asked her if she felt any difference be ■

76 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

tween them. After a pause, she returned me the
first, and said, " This gives me a sensation, the other
feels like a void." I repeated the experiment four
times, and always with the same result. I then
wrote on a piece of paper, " There are spectres ;"
and on another, '^ There are no spectres." She laid
the first on the pit of her stomach, and held the other
in her hand, and read them both. I then wrote,

'' You have seen B ." When she laid the paper

on the pit of her stomach, she said it made her sad ;
and although, when she afterwards read the contents,
she could see no reason for it, yet the experiment,
repeated, produced the same efiect. Some years after-
wards, when I laid a folded letter from this person
in her hand, though she had no idea what it was, the
result was the same ; and similar effects were pro-
duced by his presence. Many curious experiments,
of the same sort, all tended to the conviction, that
writings or drawings, placed on the pit of her sto-
mach, produced sensible effects, according to their
nature. Good news of her child made her laugh —
ill news made her sad ; the name of a person who
was her enemy awakened anger ; and the name of
Napoleon excited martial ideas, and she sang a
march. Strange as these results are, repeated ex-
periments confirmed them ; and, however difficult to
believe, they are absolute facts. As is usually the

case with sleep-wakers, Mrs. H could clearly

distinguish the internal organs of the body, especially
when diseased. She saw distinctly the course of the
nerves, and could describe them anatomically.

THE PIT OF THE STOMACH. 77

A magnetic wand, with an iron point, held to her
right eye, and directed to any distant object, magni-
fied it exceedingly : The smallest star appeared as
large as the moon, and the moon so large, that she
could distinguish the different bright spots. But she
could only discern the right side of it ; the left was
invisible to her. She said that the dwellers on the
left side of the moon were much engaged with build-
ing, and not so happy as those on the right. I told
her I thought this was mere dreaming ; but she de-
nied it, and said that her sleep-waking was a state
of perfect vigilance. It is ^luch to be regretted, that
these observations were made, at a time that the
Seherin was unable to leave her bed, and a long con-
templation of the heavenly bodies was out of her
power.

When she saw people who had lost a limb, she
still saw the limb attached to the body ; that is, she
saw the nerve-projected -form of the limb, in the
same way that she saw the nerve-projected-forms of
dead persons. From this interesting phenomenon,
we may, perhaps, explain the sensations of persons,
who still have feeling in a limb that has been ampu-
tated : the invisible nerve-projected-form of the limb
is still in connexion with the visible body ; and this
is a satisfactory proof, that after the destruction of
the visible husk, the form is preserved by the nerve-
spirit. The old Theosophist, Oetinger, says, " The
earthly husk remains in the retort, whilst the vola-
tile essence ascends, like a spirit, perfect in form, but
void of substance."

78 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

THE PROTECTING SPIRIT.

In common with all somnambules, and many others

who have cultivated their inner-life, Mrs. H

had a visible spiritual guide. Socrates, and several
others, have believed themselves under the guidance
of a demon. This genius, or demon, not only warned
him of approaching dangers, but others through him :
it also revealed the future to him, and advised him
how to act.

The late wife of a respectable citizen at Heilbronn,
named Arnold, had continually a spirit near her, who
not only warned her of several impending dangers,
but also informed her of the approaching visits of
her friends, as well as of deaths about to take place
in her family; and, finally, of her own. He was
only once visible to her, and that was in the form of
an old man ; but his presence was not only felt by
her, but by others ; and when she conversed with
him, they felt the air stirred, as by breath. Many
yet living and very credible witnesses, are in pos-
session of the most remarkable facts relating to this
case.

A young girl, called Ludwiger, in early childhood
had wholly lost her speech and the use of her limbs.
The mother, on her death-bed, committed the care
of this helpless girl to her other daughters, and they
punctually discharged the duty till the wedding-day
of one of them, when their charge was forgotten ;

THE PROTECTING SPIRIT. 79

but, in the midst of the marriage feast, the three
young women suddenly remembered their neglect,
and, hastening to the room of the invalid, they found
her^ to their surprise, sitting up, and learned from
her lips that her mother had been there and handed
her her food. This was the only time she ever
spoke during her illness, and she shortly after died.

" Sometimes/' says Jamblichus, " an unseen
spirit hovers round the sleeper, to avert from us
pain of soul or body ; and sometimes, betwixt sleep-
ing and waking, or in heaven-sent dreams, we hear
a faint voice which directs us what to do."

I knew a countryman who, for many years, per-
formed cures by strokes, or passes. According to
his own account, it began thus : In his thirty-ninth
year he was attacked by an excruciating pain over
his right eye, which totally disabled him from work,
and for which all remedies had failed. On one
occasion, when it had lasted three days, he earnestly
besought God to help him ; whereupon a form ap-
peared to him, and made seven passes with the thumb
from the eye to the pit of the stomach, by which he
was much relieved; and, by repeating the passes
himself, he was soon wholly cured.

In Horst's collection of trials for witchcraft, we
read of a girl who had long suffered from lameness,
occasioned by a distorted bone. Nothing was found
efficacious, till one night the bone became straight of
itself. The child waked her mother and brother,
and asked if they had seen and heard the angel that
had been with her ? It appeared to her that some-

80 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

thing had stroked her bone, whereon it became
straight ; and, from that time, her lameness ceased.

Of the appearance of her protecting spirit, (her
grandmother, Schmidgall,) who was her constant

and visible guide, Mrs. H could never speak

without being much affected — indeed, even of all
apparitions and communications from the world of
spirits, she was very unwilling to converse, and
never did it except when requested. Unless when
dropped by accident, or when pressed to make reve-
lations, we heard nothing of tliese things, however
remarkable. The apparitions were injurious both to
her health and spirits ; but her perfect candour, and
entire conviction, are known to many worthy per-
sons who learnt to understand her.

At such times as the faculty of ghost-seeing was
active in her, she believed herself to be awake ; but
she was then in that peculiar state we have deno-
minated as the inner-life. Her grandmother always
appeared to her in the form she bore when alive, but
in different attire : she seemed to wear a robe, with
a girdle ; and on her head was something like a veil,
which covered the hair and fell over the ears. All
female spirits, without exception, had this head-
covering.

We have above mentioned how it once appeared
to her that she was magnetized by her protecting
spirit, and how objects, whose near neighbourhood
was injurious to I er, were removed. This happened
again here (in Weinsberg) at three o'clock in the
morning. After magnetizing her, the spirit bade her

THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT. 81

rise and write — which she did — and told her that
the writing would remind her to teach her physician

to magnetize her in that manner. Mrs. H

begged the spirit to magnetize her always ; but it
answered — '' Had I the power of doing so, you
would soon take up your bed and walk !"

As was the case at an earlier period, she still often
saw a spectral form behind the person she was look-
ing at. Sometimes this appeared to be his protect-
ing spirit, and at others the image of his inner self.
Thus, behind a woman whom she had never seen
before, she once perceived a shadowy form, with
slender limbs and palpitating movements. This
woman proved to be a person of a most restless dis-
position.

Another time, as she was looking from the win-
dow, an unknown person passed and saluted her,
but she sprang suddenly back ; and when I in-
quired the reason, she told me that she had seen,
behind a woman who had just passed, a masculine
disagreeable looking form, in dark clothes. I looked
out, and recognized a woman of a very quarrelsome,
ill character, who, however, had come from a dis-
tance, and was quite a stranger to Mrs. H .

Behind a servant girl, who lived with me, she
often saw the form of a boy about twelve years old.
I asked the girl if she had any relation of that age,
but she said she had not. But she. told me after-
wards that, on thinking of wy inquiry, she re-
membered that her brother, who had died when he
was three years old, would have been just twelve.

F

82 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

This apparent increase in the age of the spirit will
be touched on by and by. ^' It will hereafter be
proved/' says Kant, in the dream of a ghost-seer,
'^ that the human soul, even in this life, is in con-
stant communication with the spiritual world, and
that these are susceptible of mutual impressions;
but, as long as all goes well, these impressions are
unperceived ! "

PROPHETIC DREAMS.

On one occasion, Mrs. H , who was then ex-
tremely unwell, said to a very sensible woman, who was
about to take leave of her — " If you dream to-night
what will make me better, I will take it." The
lady dreamt that, passing from her chamber into
another larger, she had seen several pitchers of

chalybeate water, and that Mrs. H had made a

sign to her to britig her one on which was inscribed
"^ Fachinger water ;* and, what is most extraordin-
ary, Mrs. H on the same night dreamt a cor-
responding dream. She obeyed the behest, and the
result was what was desired.

One night she dreamt that she saw her uncle's
eldest daughter go out of the house with a small
coffin on her head : seven days afterwards died her
own child, aged one year, of whose illness, at that
time, we had not the least idea. She had related
the dream to me and others on awaking. Another

PROPHETIC DREAMS. 83

night she dreamt that she was crossing some water,
holding in her hand a piece of decaying flesh, and

that, meeting Mrs. N , the latter had anxiously

inquired what she was going to do with it (she
related this dream to us, which we were unable to

interpret) : seven days afterwards Mrs. N was

delivered of a dead child, whose body was already in
a state of corruption. On another night she dreamt

that Mrs. L , whom she had never seen nor

known, came to her weeping, with a dead child in
her arms, and entreating her aid : six weeks after-
wards, this lady was confined, after much suffering
and danger, and lost her child.

One night that she slept in my house, in a lower
story, she dreamt that, in the water -tub above
stairs, where she had never been, there was some-
thing that should not be there. She told me this
dream, and, on the following evening, I had the
vessel emptied, and found in it an old rusty knitting

needle. Mrs. H had drank water from this

barrel just before she went to sleep ; and it was
probably her susceptibility to the effect of metals
that occasioned this dream.

On the night of the 28th January 1828, Mrs.

H dreamt that, being on a desert island, she

saw her dead child enveloped with a heavenly light,
with a wreath of flowers on its head, and a wand,
with buds on it, in its hand. This disappeared;
and she next saw me assisting a man who was bleed-
ing ; and this was succeeded by a third vision of
herself, suffering severe spasms, whilst a voice told

84 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

her that I was sent for. This dream she related to
me on the morning of the 29th. On the 30th, I
was sent for to a man who had been stabbed in the
breast ; and, on the same night, the third vision was
explained by my being sent for to her. The in-
terpretation of the child's appearance we did not
learn.

I shall now relate an instance of her fore-
knowledge, when she did not dream^ but was in her
sleep- waking state : It was on the 6th July 1827,
that, after being some time torpid, she said — ^' I see

N in the moon, nevertheless he yet lives upon

the earth ; but I see him there as it were before-
hand. In a quarter of a year he will die, and my
father will be the first to learn his death." This
person, who was then in perfect health, actually did
die at the period named, and her father was the first
to hear of it.

The following is a remarkable prophetic dream of
W. Reiniger, of Stuttgart, who was drowned in the
Neckar, and who, as appears from his journal,
lived a deep inner-life. Pie writes in this journal,
which fell into the hands of his parents after his
death, that he remembered, with horror, a dream
his father had related to him. The father dreamt
that, having crossed a river, holding his son by the
hand, he suddenly saw the boy sink out of the reach
of assistance ; and the young man adds — " If I am
not mistaken, I had a similar dream, and the scene
and circumstances are yet present to my imagination.
My father will have forgotten it." Shortly before

SECOND-SIGHT. 85

his death, he appears, by his journal, to have suffered,
for several nights, from a strange and unaccountable
anxiety, and to have had, also, another alarming
dream, the particulars of which he, unfortunately,
does not relate. It probably referred to his ap-
proaching fate. He was drowned whilst bathing in
the Neckar, whither he had gone much against his
inclination.

SECOND-SIGHT.

It is well known that the gift of second-sight is
endemic in certain places — as in some parts of Scot-
land and Denmark, for example. People who have
this second-sight are remarked to have a piercing

look — a look which I also observed in Mrs. H

when she saw spirits or herself. At the moments
that this faculty is in exercise, the body of the seer
is rigid ; his eyelids are up-raised, and he is blind

and deaf to all besides, as was Mrs. H . If the

seer, in the moment of second-sight, touches another
person, or animal, that person, or animal, is endued
with the same faculty also. A horse will break into
a sweat, and refuse to advance, when his rider sees
a vision ; and horses frequently see these things
when the rider does not. Horses will also often
betray great uneasiness in passing over places where
a body has been buried. In the year 1823, a new
stall being built in the Castle of Schmiedelfeli

86 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the horse that was placed in it betrayed the greatest
uneasiness ; afterwards a skeleton was found beneath
the spot. In Scotland, this gift is supposed by some
to be hereditary, but it is not always so.

A remarkable instance of second-sight was ob-
served in a minister's wife, at Nienberg, she having
inherited this unfortunate faculty from her father.

On the 13th January 1827, Mrs. H being

seized with spasms at a very unusual hour, I en-
deavoured to learn from her the cause of the acci-
dent ; and, when she was in a sleep- waking state,
she told me that she had seen a bier, and on it a
person very dear to her — it was her brother, over
whom a great danger impended ; he would be shot
at on the 18th of the month ; and she pointed out
how he should escape the danger, and described the
assassin. It happened as she had foretold ; but the
shot missed him. Some time after she had another
warning respecting her brother : several times in
her magnetic sleep she saw a fox, and she became
aware that, in chasing this animal, he would be in
imminent danger from the charge of his gun. Her
brother, being warned, examined his weapon, and
found that some unfriendly hand had overcharged
it ; and he thus escaped the danger. She was sup-
posed to be much en rapport with this brother, he
having frequently magnetized her.

On the morning of the 8th of May, at seven
o'clock, she bade her sister not come too near her
bed, for she felt that something invisible was ap-
proaching. She had had this feeling for an hour,

SECOND-SIGHT. 87

and was eating her breakfast, when she saw her
dead child standing by the bed, and near it her
living one^ which was far away. The dead one
looked on her steadfastly, and pointed with the
finger to the living one. The latter had a pin in its
hand, which it held in its mouth. The children ap-
peared so real and actual, that she stretched out her
hand to take away the pin. She cried out — ^' In
the name of God, what is this ?" and then the vision
disappeared. The child, which had died when it
was nine months old^ looked now as if it were three —
which is the age it would have reached had it lived —
but it was light and transparent. The aspect of
both was strange — something she found it impossible
to describe. This sight affected her much, and she
wept. She afterwards said that, in seven days
hence, her child would swallow a pin, and die of it ;
and that her parents, with whom the child was,
must be warned of the danger. This was done ;
and they wrote that, on examining the child, they
had found a pin in its sleeve, which they had re-
moved.

Three successive days before the death of her
father, at a time that the news of his illness had not
reached her, she saw, when she was awake, a coffin
standing by her bed, which was covered by a mort-
cloth, on which lay a white cross. She was very
much alarmed, and said she feared her father was
dead, or sick. I comforted her by suggesting that
some other person might be signified. She did not
know how to interpret this covered coffin, as hither-

88 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

to she had either seen coffins with the likeness of
the person about to die lying in them, or the like-
ness of the person about to be sick looking into
them. On the morning of the 2d of May came the
news of her father's illness ; on the same evening he
died ; whilst she in her sleep was much distressed,
and intimated that she saw something grievous,
which she would not tell us, in order that she might
not know it when she was awake ; on the next came
the news of his death. Three times when awake she
saw her mother-in-law looking into a coffin : seven
days afterwards this lady fell ill, but she recovered.

When Mrs. H saw the image of a person lying

dead in a coffin, it predicted their approaching deaths,
— if alive, a severe illness.

THE GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT.

On the above mentioned 2d of May, about nine

o'clock at night, Mrs. H exclaimed in her

sleep — ^^ Ah ! God ! " She awoke, as if aroused by
the exclamation, and said that she had heard two
voices proceeding from herself. At the same hour
that this happened. Dr. Fohr, of Bottwar, the phy-
sician who had attended the deceased, being with an

uncle of Mrs. H , in a chamber next to that

where the body lay — in which last there was only
the corpse — heard the words — ^' Ah ! God ! '* so
distinctly, that he went to see who was there, but
found only the body. Dr. Fohr writes me on the

GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 89

subject : — '^ After my arrival at Oberstenfeld, where

I found Mr. W dead, I distinctly heard, from

the adjoining room where the body lay, the words —
'Ah! God!* I thought it proceeded from the

coffin, and that Mr. W 's death had only been

apparent. I watched him for an hour, till I was
satisfied he was really gone.'* The uncle heard
nothing. It appears that there was nobody in that
part of the house from whom the voice could have
proceeded.

She accounted for this by saying, that her intense
anxiety to know how her father was, had enabled her
soul to accompany her nerve-spirit to the place where
he lay ; and that her mind and thoughts, being ear-
nestly fixed on the physician and his skill, was the
reason that he heard the exclamation her soul made
over the coffin, which it repeated on its return, when
I heard it.

As I had been told by her parents, a year before
her father s death, that, at the period of her early
magnetic state, she was able to make herself heard
by her friends, as they lay in bed at night, in the
same village, but in other houses, by a knocking — as
is said of the dead — I asked her, in her sleep, whe-
ther she was able to do so now, and at what distance ?
She answered, that she would sometime do it — that
to the spirit space was nothing. Sometime after
this, as we were going to bed — my children and ser-
vants beiug already asleep — ^We heard a knocking, as
if in the air, over our heads. There were six knocks,
at intervals of half a minute. It was a hollow, yet

00 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

clear sound — soft, but distinct. We were certain
there was no one near us, nor over us^ from whom it
could proceed ; and our house stands by itself. On
the following evening, when she was asleep — when
we had mentioned the knocking to nobody whatever
— she asked me, whether she should soon knock to
us again ? which, as she said it was hurtful to her, I
declined. She told me afterwards, that this knock-
ing was made by the spirit and the air, not by the
soul ; but that the voice heard by her father s coffin,
was when the soul, through grief and earnest long-
ing, had quitted the body with the spirit.

We need not be surprised at these phenomena,
when we remember that dying persons — when the
soul is yet in the body, but the spirit is free — have it
in their power to appear, in their own image, to dis-
tant friends. Thus did a relation of my friend. Dr.
Seyffer's, appear to him, at the moment of death ;
as did also his academical friend, Prince Hohenlohe,
to Dr. Oesterlen. The following remarkable history,
also, I have from the most respectable authority.

Mr. HUbschmann, of Stuttgart, had a father in
Bothland, and a brother in Strasburg. It happened,

that one morning, at break of day, Mr. H 's

children awoke him, by crying out, " Grandfather !

grandfather ! grandfather is come ! *' Mr. H

looked about, but saw nothing. On interrogating
his children, they solemnly declared that their grand-
father had been there, but whither he had gone they

knew not. After some days had elapsed, Mr. H-

received a letter from his brother at Strasburg, in-

GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 91

quiring anxiously if he had any intelligence of their
father, as a circumstance that had happened had oc-
casioned him much alarm ; namely, that, on a certain
day and hour, (and they were the same on which the
children had made the above-mentioned exclamation,)
he had been met by his father, as he entered his work-
shop in the morning. Eight days afterwards came
the news of the old man's death ; he had expired at
the precise moment when he appeared to his family,
at Strasburg and Stuttgart.

Dr. Bardili, a young man of talent, who quitted
his country for America, and devoted himself much
to the study of languages and mathematics — and who,
according to the testimony of his friends, had not
much faith in spiritual matters — says, in the last let-
ter he ever wrote to them — which letter is still in
their possession — " The most extraordinary thing has
lately happened to me : my friend Elwert, who died
nine years ago at Wirtemberg, appeared to me, and
said, ' Thou shalt soon die ! ' and what is more strange
is, that th^ day he appeared to me was the anniver-
sary of his own death." Shortly after writing this
letter. Dr. B died, very unexpectedly.

Mrs. H related to me, that sometime ago, she

had seen herself sitting on a stool, and clothed in
white, whilst she was lying in bed. She looked at
the object, and tried to cry out, but could not ; at
length, when she did so, it vanished. She said, on
this occasion, that her soul left her body, and clothed
itself in an airy form, whilst her spirit remained with
it. On the 28th May 1827, at midnight, when I

92 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

was with her, she again saw herself, as she after-
wards related, sitting on a stool, clothed in a white
dress which she had, but was not then wearing. She
tried to cry out, but could neither speak nor move ;
nor could see any object, but that one on which her
eyes were fixed. Whilst she looked at it, her mind
was pervaded with but one idea — one which she had
not before entertained — which expressed itself thus :

One day in heaven's worth
A thousand here, on earth.

The image rose, and ran towards her ; and just as
it reached her, a sort of electric shock passed over
her, which I saw ; she then uttered a scream, and
related to me what she had seen. She saw herself
on other occasions ; and once, when I remarked it,
and stept between her and the image, she told me
afterwards, that my doing so had caused her a very.
uncomfortable sensation, as she seemed to be cut off
from her soul.

I shall here say nothing of this self-seeing, nor of
those instances where the image has been visible to
others. These phenomena all resolve themselves into
examples of second-sight.

Mrs. H considered the number 7, as her ap-
pointed number, and out of this proceeded all her
reckonings for her remedies, &c. &c. ; and the seventh
hour of the day was always, with her, the most cri-
tical. " This number," she said, " lies within me,
like a language, (of this, more hereafter.) Had I
the number 3, I should be well much sooner."

GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 93

Like Paracelsus, she attributed great efficacy to
the St. John's -wort — Hypericum perforatum — a
plant which he used, not only internally, but as an
amulet. A young man, much afflicted with melan-
choly, to whom Mrs. H prescribed this plant as

an amulet, was entirely cured, after a severe erup-
tion that broke out on him, in consequence of its

application. Mrs. H drew her remedies, as do

all sleep- wakers, not only from the chemist's shop,
but from all nature : witness her prescription of
an ointment, made from the nipples of a horse, for
strengthening the spine. Her prescriptions were
often in accordance with the homoeopathic system :
ordering those things, in small quantities, which, in
larger, would have produced the disease to be cured.
Sometimes her prescriptions were purely magical.
Thus, at one time she desired me, every morning and
evening, at seven, to say the Lord's Prayer, pro-
vided I could do it with entire faith ; and that, on
repeating the words, " Deliver us from evil," I
should lay my hand on her forehead, &c. &c.

With respect to amulets, she used them less for
herself than for others. They were composed some-
times of vegetable substances, but more frequently
of writing, chiefly from her inner-tongue. " Speech,"
says Poiret, " is not only given to man as a means
of communication, but as a means of governing the
whole visible world by its secret powers — a word and
a thing are yet one and the same. When the holy
men of ancient times did such great things — when
Adam named all the animals, in accordance with

94 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

their nature— when Noah called them to him in the
ark — and when Moses bade the Red Sea to divide —
it was only a revival of the original nature of man."
And why should there not be a language like that
the Seherin describes, which expresses, by its words
and characters, the powers and gradations of physi-
cal nature ; so that, by hearing or reading the words,
the existing properties of the thing are immediately
presented to the mind ? A representative, or picto-
rial language, must necessarily express an entire
system, in a few words ; and there may thus be
magical words, which comprise both the spirit and
the power of holiness ; and an amulet may be only
a holy cipher, or property in nature, emitting the
name and virtue of the true faith. The virtue does
not lie in the word, as a word, any more than it does
in the substance of the herbs and metals. You may
make your phylacteries as long as the Pharisees' ; but
you will do nothing without faith, nor whilst the
name of Jesus is but an idle breath upon your lips.

These magical formulas of Mrs. H , seemed

to consist of words and numbers still more profound
than her ordinary inner-language, and appeared to
belong rather to those mysterious ciphers, whereby
she calculated the day of her death.

Such signs and numbers were used by the ancients,
and, doubtless, proceeded from the inner-seeing. In
choosing amulets, she prescribed differently, accord-
ing as they were to be laid on the back, or the pit of
the stomach. When the disease proceeded chiefly
from the brain, she applied them to the back ; when

GOING FORTH OF THE SPIRIT. 95

the ganglionic system was most concerned, to the pit
of the stomach. It is consistent with this to con-
ceive, that we are anteriorly more magnetic than we
are behind. Amulets had their origin in the East,
the cradle of mankind. With us, these remedies
are still used by the people ; whilst the hand that
prepares them — the planet under which the plants
are gathered — and the childlike faith of the patient,
are looked upon as essential to the cure desired.

Mrs. H said, that to exercise magical powers,

the most entire faith in the invisible world was
requisite. " It is a faculty of the soul, which is
sustained by the spirit. There is another sort of
magicT— of which I shall not speak — which is not
sustained by the spirit."

On this subject Eschenmayer, in his '^ Mysteries,"
speaks as follows : — '^ Amulet ! an awful word in
this century, when reason is fast gaining a victory
over the superstitions of the middle ages. This re-
vival of amulets, and the like absurdities, is quite
enough to prove the folly of this story, or, at least,
the insanity of the Seherin. How can sensible and
learned men go so far astray?" So says the re-
viewer."^

There are three remedial powers : the power of
nature — organic and spiritual powers combined —
and a purely spiritual power. When the body is

* Eschenmayer, an eminent psychologist, here speaks ironi-
cally ; since he appears to have had entire faith in the pheno-
mena exhibited by the Seherin, which he had himself carefully
investigated. — Translator.

96 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

sick, the physician has recourse to the first, with his
earths, plants, metals, salts, &c. &c. The second is
this troublesome intrusive magnetism, which makes
its appearance in so many histories, that it can no
longer be suppressed, and which, beyond a doubt,
can often cure, where all other means have failed.
For this no experienced physician is required, but a
good and earnest man ; for it is not only the organic
power of the human hand that heals, but the physi-
cal influence of the whole man. But there is a still
higher remedial power, and that is the purely magi-
cal. The Word, with the name of Jesus Christ, is
the remedy which, in the Acts of the Apostles,
chap. iii. 2-18, Peter distinctly teaches us : — ye
will not acknowledge it, and therefore is all power
gone from you, and is given to the poor in spirit, to
exercise henceforth in the fulness of their faith.

The magic Mrs. H alludes to, as not sus-
tained by the spirit, is of an evil nature, and is
practised by those who have subjected themselves to
evil spirits. To this, the Gospel frequently makes
allusions ; but reason laughs at such superstitions.
At all events, the results were in favour of the effi-
cacy of the amulets. Let those who doubt, go t j
the spot and inquire ; the witnesses are named, and
still to be found. If you will not believe their tes-
timony, neither would you believe, though one came
from the dead to enforce the truth of the facts we
record.

In the early part of Mrs. It 's illness, her

protecting spirit had exhibited to her^ in a dream,

MAGNETIC MANIPULATION. 97

the form of a machine, which, properly used, would

restore her to health. Mrs. H drew it on paper,

but the intimation was neglected. After a long
interval, it was, however, repeated ; and she was
told, that had the injunction been obeyed in time,
she would now have been quite well. It was con-
structed shortly before her death, and the effect of
it appears to have been galvanic. She said, " It
charged her nerves ;" and she called it her nerve-
tuner.

MAGNETIC MANIPULATION, AND PRESCRIBING FOR DISEASE.

It is remarkable, that my wife had the same mag-
netic influence on Mrs. H as myself ; and, by

joining their fingers, she could raise her from her bed
as I could, when, of herself, she was quite unable to
sit up. She frequently had no feeling, or conscious-
ness of existence, except in the pit of her stomach ;
she seemed to herself, as if she had neither head,
hands, nor feet. At these times, she perceived every
thing with, closed eyes ; but she could not tell whe-
ther she saw the objects, or felt them. If I, by
passes, made her lift her eye-lids, she saw nothing
but me ; her pupils were immovable, but she could not
tell whether she saw or felt me. It was found very
injurious to tell her, when she awoke, what she had
said in her sleep, and she entreated us never to do it.

On approaching diseased persons, even though she
did not touch them — and still more, if she did — Mrs.

G

98 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

H became conscious of their disease, and felt

their sensations before they described them — and
often much to their amazement ; and she was not
only sensible of their physical state, but also of the
temporary condition of their minds : the former she
felt with her body, the latter with her soul.

'' These facts," says Eschenmayer, in his Mysteries,
" can all be proved by witnesses. Indeed, I bear it
my own testimony ; for she accurately divined my
whole bodily condition, as well as that of a friend —
and this, by only the contact of the hand. These
phenomena, however frequently they may be met
with among somnambulists, still remain for ever re-
markable. In proportion as we cannot deny, that
in the hand, or any part of the body, may be con-
centrated the entire susceptibility of an organism
(explaining the otherwise disproportionate sensibility
of a single organ) ; so will it become more and more
probable, that there exists a latent sense, which can
penetrate to the very organic centre of the nervous
system. There is developed, by the mutual approxi-
mation, a kind of polarity between the two nervous
systems."^ In this polar relation of nervous system
to nervous system, the particular organs of the one
seek out, as it were, and become specially connected
in polarity with the corresponding organs of the
other ; so that the unhealthy organ of the (negative)

* As a shilling and a sovereign, previously indiflFerent, become
positively and negatively electric, the instant they touch one an-
other, so as vastly to intensify the physical sensibility of the silver
piece. — Translator.

PRESCRIBING FOR DISEASE. • 99

patient^ mirrors itself in the corresponding organ of
the (positive) clear-seer ; whence the condition of
the person is always divined. Sensation, in this case
sympathetic, is the indifferent conductor between the
communicating homonymous poles."

A singular proof of this was offered, by the case of
a lady, quite unknown to us, who requested me to

allow Mrs. H to touch her, when she was awake,

for a severe pain in her liver. Mrs. H described

her feelings exactly ; but, suddenly becoming very
red, she added, that she could scarcely see with her
right eye. The stranger, much surprised, said, that
she herself had been almost blind, in her right eye,
for several years ; but, knowing the malady to be
incurable, she had not mentioned it to me. Mrs.

H only recovered her sight by degrees, the

pupil remaining incontractable, as in cases of amau-
rosis ; she was relieved by persons with sound eyes
earnestly directing them to her dark eye for several
minutes.

On the evening of the 5th of September 1827^ I

placed in the hand of Mrs. H a ribbon, on which

was written the name of a sick lady, whose illness,
as well as herself, were quite unknown to me — this
ribbon she had doubtless worn, or touched. Mrs.

H had only held it a few minutes in her hand,

when she was seized with giddiness, choking, and
violent vomiting, together with pains — especially in
the ankle of the left foot — anxieties, and irritation
of the uvula. The hand was washed, and various
means tried of removing these symptoms j but she

100 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

became worse, and fell into a cataleptic state, that
resembled deaths her body being quite cold. A blis-
ter I applied did not rise ; and she only recovered
after some days, and very slowly. On the sixth of
the month, I read the death of this lady in the news-
paper ; and it thus appeared^ that she was already
dead and buried when I gave the ribbon to Mrs.

H , which accounts for the effects it produced.

Doubtless, had she been in her sleep-waking state,
she would have seen the body in the grave. Van
Helmont speaks of a paralytic woman, who was
always seized with fits of palsy when she sat on a
stool, on which her brother, who had died five years
before, had been wont to sit. " If mankind only
knew the numbers and the periods," said a som-
nambule once to me, *' they might heal the worst
diseases, by the simplest means."

CITRE OF THE COTJKTEBS VON MALDEGHEM, BY MEANS Ot
THE SEERESS.

As in this book facts only are given, we shall
strictly adhere to them in the following story.

On the 28th March 1 828, the Count von M

waited on me, with a letter from his physician. Dr.
Endres, of Ulm. The letter informed me who the
bearer was, and said that the Count, having heard of
the Seeress, wished to consult her about his wife ;
and he described the case of the invalid as follows :

CURE OF COUNTESS VON MALDEGHEM. 101

It appeared that, shortly before her birth, her
father had been cut down, in front of his own castle,
by a detachment of Austrian soldiers. It was ex-
pected that her mother would miscarry, in conse-
quence of this misfortune ; but, on the contrary, she
was, in due time, safely delivered ; but the child (the
invalid now in question) bore the exact features of
her father, and, for a long time, had the complexion
of a corpse. This, however, in time, disappeared;
and the only ill-effect that remained from the acci-
dent, was an exceedingly excitable, nervous tempera-
ment. The young lady was educated in a convent,
and in her twenty-third year married the present
Count von M . She is a person of very culti-
vated mind, and of a very amiable and religious
character. Her illness dates from her second con-
finement, and consists of a sort of waking dream, in
which she lives, and in which she is possessed of
three fixed ideas ; and these form a circle, in which
her imagination moves : namely, Ist^ A doubt as to
the identity of her husband and children ; 2dl2/, An
expectation, or rather earnest longing, for the change
of her being ; Sdly^ Expectation of some superna-
tural phenomenon, through whose agency this change
is to be effected. These are the fundamental notions,
which, however, undergo many changes and modifi-
cations.

In her sixth year, it happened that the Countess,
overlboked by her attendants, slept for half a day in a
poppy-field. When she was at length awakened, it
was found that her memory was so affected, that sbjd

102 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

only imperfectly recognized her sisters and attendants;
and for a long time doubted the reality of persons and
things, before well known to her. She in a great
degree recovered this attack, but her subsequent
residence in a cloister, doubtless, had a tendency to
revive it ; and it was observed, that she could not
well distinguish betwixt her dreams and the realities
of her waking life. After her betrothment to the
Count, she often felt uncertain as to his identity,
though before the world she sought to conceal these
abnormal feelings; till, on the 31st October 1827,
after her confinement, she fell into a sort of dreamy
life, which the physicians at first . thought proceeded
from inflammation of the brain, but afterwards pro-
nounced to be insanity. Her chief idea, in this
state, was, that she was dead, and irrevocably con-
demned to waiider through dark fissures, and sub-
terraneous caves, sufi'ering all manner of torments.
The persons most dear to her, appeared to her in the
form of animals — as bears, &c. ; and it was impos-
sible to make her believe that her place of residence,
which she much loved, was real — she thought it only
a picture, or image. She also believed herself — in
reality so much beloved — to be an object of abhor-
rence to all men; and, on that account, fled their
presence.

After many remedies had been tried in vain, the
Count brought his unhappy wife to Germany, where,
however, she still converted every object into a source
of torture. It is remarkable, that, from the com-
mencement of her illness, the Countess, in her lucid

CURE OF COUNTESS VON MALDEGHEM. 103

moments, always said that her restoration would
proceed from no physician, but only from her hus-
band. Under these circumstances, he came to me.

I explained to him, without reserve, that, for ordin-
ary maladies, I had little confidence in the prescrip-
tions of sleep- wakers; but that, in the case of the Coun-
tess— which seemed to me to be not altogether mania,
but to have some resemblance to a state of magnetic
dreaming — the experiment would be worth making.

On being consulted, Mrs. H took a warm

interest in the case ; and said she felt that the Coun-
tess's number was 3, and that the cure must be con-
ducted accordingly. Three times a-day, for nine
days, she must put on an amulet, consisting of three
laurel leaves ; but she must not be told of what the
amulet consisted. The Count was also to magnetise
her three times a-day, according to directions given ;
and, during this time, she was to live very simply,
taking no exciting food or medicine. Three times
a-day she was to take a spoonful of the juice of the

St. John's-wort, mixed with water. Mrs. H

added, that she must be set to sleep at nine o'clock
every morning ; and that, if she herself slept at that
hour, no one must speak to her, as she should be
praying for the Countess. On the 31st the Count
returned to Ulm, and commenced the cure of his
wife, according to these directions, on the morning
of the 3d of April ; and, on that morning and hour,

Mrs. H , quite contrary to custom, fell asleep,

and lay in silence, with her hands crossed, as if in
prayer. From that time she felt herself en rapport

104 THE SEERESS OF iPREVORST.

with the Countess ; and this feeling increased daily,
till Wednesday the 9th, when, at six o'clock in the
evening, she cried out, " Cast all thy cares upon
the Lord, for he careth for thee !" and she then said,
that she had had a vision, whereby she knew that a
change had taken place in the Countess. On the
1 4th, I received the following letter from the Count :

"Ulm, nth April 1828.
" Pray, write to me as soon as possible, and say
whether, on Wednesday the 9th, at six o'clock in the
evening, you remarked anything particular about

Mrs. H , and what has occurred with her in

relation to my wife. I do not ask this without a
motive; and, together with Dr. E — — , anxiously
await your answer.

" C. VON M "

I could only answer the Count, by relating to
him what I had already noted in my journal, as I
have above related it ; to the truths of which there
were two other witnesses^ besides myself. On the

morning of the 18th, Mrs. H told us, that she

had the feeling that the Countess would arrive on
that day; and this actually happened, the Count
and she arriving in the evening ; and he related,
that for six days he had followed the directions
given by Mrs. H , without observing any parti-
cular effect from them ; but that at six o'clock on
the evening of the 9 th — which was Wednesday — the
Countess had called him from the company with

CURE OF COUNTESS VON MALDEGHEM. 105

which he was engaged, and had told him, that on
the striking of the hour six, she had found herself

strongly en rapport with Mrs. H , and felt an

invincible necessity to communicate something to
her husband, which she had never told any human
being whatever. After this revelation, the illusions
that had troubled her wholly disappeared ; she re-
cognized her husband and children, and also her

estate ; but felt a great desire to see Mrs. H ,

on which account he had brought her. The Count's
physician wrote to me, " that the disease appeared to
be overcome, as if by magic ; and that all that re-
mained of it was the religious anxiety, that led her
to believe she had not sujficient faith in the holy
mysteries of her religion."

The Countess now spoke of her former life as a
labyrinth, in which she had been involved, alluded
frequently to the perplexing dreams which had
troubled her, and said that she felt herself now in a
more waking state ; but she would sometimes add —
" I am not yet quite certain whether this as my
Charles, and only feel sure of it when I touch his
arm, and the scar that is upon it." The Count had
a scar on his arm from a sabre cut. She also often
fancied that she heard voices mocking her ; and,
pious as she was, she could neither pray nor enter a
church. Mrs. H , whom the Countess fre-
quently visited in her sleep- waking state, directed
all her efforts to calm her sufferings, by confirming
her faith ; and she said to her — ^' When I pray with
you, will you pray with me ? Be assured I will

106 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

say nothing contrary to your faith." Mrs. H

was of the Lutheran persuasion, and the Countess a
Catholic. The Countess asked her how she should
banish her uneasy thoughts ? Mrs. H— — answered
— " You cannot banish them, but you will see them
in a diflferent point of view." For seven days, at

seven o'clock in the evening, Mrs. H^ prayed

with the Countess, and the mind of the latter be-
came more composed ; till at length, suddenly on
the morning of the 28 th, she awoke her family, and
declared herself quite well. The abruptness of this
declaration alarmed me, and I could not help doubt-
ing the reality of the case. But she assured me I
had nothing to fear ; and so the event proved, for
ten years have now elapsed without any return of
her malady. *

Acknowledge, here, reader, the power of spiritual
community, prayer, and a child-like faith.

^' Rarely in the annals of magnetism," says
Eschenmayer, " do we find a case in which the
phenomena are so clearly exhibited, and so extra-
ordinary a physical-magnetic, or, we may say,
religious-magical, power is laid open to us. I heard
the account from the lips of the Countess herself,
and witnessed her entire conviction that she had
been cured by the Seeress. This history gives us
a glimpse into the region of spiritual sympathies,
which disperses, like soap-bubbles, all our miserable

* We are informed by a gentleman, who has lately been in
Germany, that the Countess von M is still alive. — Trans-
lator.

DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MAGNETISM. 107

objections drawn from the laws of nature. My
friend Kerner calls on mankind to acknowledge the
power of faith and prayer. But, alas ! they know
it not. They think to lay open the universe by
the force of their vaunted reason, and they find it
but an empty shell.

" But whereunto shall I liken this generation ?
It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and
calling unto their fellows, and saying — ' We have
piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have
mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented."*

ON THE DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MAGNETISM, AND THE
FEELINGS OF THE SEHERIN IN EACH OF THEM.

The magnetic condition of Mrs. H may be

divided into four degrees.

1st, That in which she ordinarily was, wherein
she appeared to be awake, although she was not,
but, on the contrary, was in the first stage of her
inner-life. She said that many persons were in this
state, of whom it was not suspected, and who were
not aware of it themselves.

2dl2/, The magnetic dream. She believed many
persons to be in this condition who were considered
insane.

Sdl^/y In the half-waking state, which exhibited
itself more especially by her writing and speaking
the inner language, to which we shall refer by and

108 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

by. She said that she spoke this language when
her spirit was in intimate conjunction with her soul.

4}thy The sleep-waking state, when she was clair-
voyante, and prescribed.

But between the third and fourth there appeared
to me an intermediate one — the cataleptic, wherein
she lay torpid and cold. She said that, in her half-
waking state, she thought only with the cerebellum ;
of the cerebrum she felt nothing — it was asleep. In
this state she thought more with her soul ; her
thoughts were clearer, and her spirit had more
power over her than in her waking state. In the
perfect sleep-waking state, the spirit had the su-
premacy ; and, when she was perfectly clairvoyante,
she said her thoughts proceeded wholly from the
spirit, and the epigastric region. " In our natural
state of vigilance, we feel little or nothing of the
spirit. But man, as he is situated in this world,
must be governed by the soul. If the spirit had
free play, what would this world be ? It can pene-
trate into things above ; and, in his present life,
man must not know the future." She said this in
her sleep- waking state.

Once she said — " I feel the soul in the nerves,
which I now see quite clearly. But I must know,
with certainty, whether the soul only hovers over
the nerves, and what happens to the nerves after
death." After looking more deeply into herself,
she said — " The soul continues to live with the
spirit, and creates around it an ethereal form."
She said that the magnetic dream had some

DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MAGNETISM. 109

resemblance to the sleep-waking state, and was,
therefore, not without its significance ; but it pro-
ceeded more from the brain. When awaking from
this state, she remembered what she had dreamt —
which was not the case in the half- waking, or clear-
seeing state. She often spoke out, and related her
dream, whilst it was passing through her brain,
sometimes in yerse, and sometimes dramatically.*
She distinguished these dreams from those of natural
sleep, by their being more regular and distinct. She
could not be awakened from them ; but, if they were
-nagfcugifliliy interrupted, the dream was resumed the
next night, exactly at the point at which it had
been broken off.

Mrs. H said *^ that the sleep-waking state is

the life and act of the inner- man, and contains. in
itself a proof of a future existence, and of re-union
after death. It is the internal activity of man which
is unawakened in persons in their normal condition,
and which is wholly asleep in those whose life is
centered altogether in the brain, who, being uncon-
scious of their sympathetic life, never listen to its
voice ; though, if man considered rightly, he would
find this his true guide. The sleep-waking pro-
duced by magnetic passes is a sure remedy — for, in
clairvoyance, the inner-man steps forward and in-
spects the outer, which is not the case either in sleep

* Mrs. H made a great many verses ; but, as they are not

poetical in the original, and would be still less so translated, we
omit them. — Translator.

Mo THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

or dreaming. Clairvoyance is a state of the most
perfect vigilance, because then the inner spiritual
man is disentangled and set free from the body. I
would rather, therefore, denominate sleep-waking
the coming forward of the inner-man, or the spiritual
growth of man. At these moments the spirit is quite
free and able to separate itself from the soul and
body, and go where it will, like a flash of lightning.
The sleep-waker is then incapable of any ungodly
act ; though his soul be impure, he can neither lie
nor deceive. I should call this the third stage of
clear-seeing. In the second stage, which is inferior,
the soul and spirit come forth together — not the
spirit alone, as in the former. There is a still in-
ferior state, in which the soul unites itself with the
spirit ; and, as no soul is quite pure, the seeing is
here imperfect. The lowest stage of all may be
considered as an excited condition of the nervous
system, and is a state which appears more or less in
ordinary life. It resembles that prophetic power
that some men, doubtless, are endowed with ; but,
in the case of a sleep-waker, the faculty is stronger,
and more regular.

" In the normal condition, the soul dwells chiefly in
the brain, and the spirit in the epigastric region. In
the magnetic state, the soul approaches, more or less,
the seat of the spirit. In those who only live their
external life, the soul has the supremacy ; and the
highest state of spiritual perfection is when the spirit
can free itself wholly from the soul,"

SUN^SPHERE AND LIFE-SPHERE. Ill

It will be seen hereafter, that there is a great
difference betwixt this separation of the spirit in
sleep-waking and in death.

THE SUN-SPHERE AND LIFE-SPHERE.

THE CONDITION OP THE SEERESS WHEN THESE SPHERES
WERE DEVELOPED WITHIN HER.

On the 18th October 1827, while in a sleep-
waking state^ produced by twenty-one laurel berries,

Mrs. H told us that the following evening at

seven o'clock, would be the last time we should see
her in a perfect state of clairvoyance ; that hence-
forth she should be more awake to external life,
and that we should be all as strangers to her ; that
the appearance of her eyes would become more
natural ; and that the past would . be to her as a
dream. I asked her if the spectres would no longer
appear to her ? She answered that that did not
depend on her sleep-waking state. They would
appear as before, but would seem strange to her ; and
their appearance would frighten her. In the night
she was extremely ill, and said that there seemed to
be a struggle within her, as of two fighting — one of
whom told her she was in Weinsberg, and the other
that she was in Lowenstein. In the one case, the

112 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

objects around her were familiar ; and, in the other,
they became strange. On the morning of the 19th,
she found it very difficult to speak her ordinary
language, feeling an impulse to speak high German,
and to address every one as thouJ^ She said that
she felt as if she was about to lose her soul, or that
something was dying within her.

On the 19th, at seven o'clock in the evening,
being in the sleep- waking state, she said, after silent
prayer — '^ I feel that I awake this day from a long
dream, which has lasted from the time I came here,
when you chided me ; and I thought there was no
longer anything human about me. I had hitherto
relied on human aid, but now felt myself deserted,
and retired entirely into myself. From this time I
have not lived a single hour on the earth, however
much I appeared awake. How fearful will it be
to me when I awake. I shall immediately exclaim
that I have been dreaming of many persons. When
the ghosts I have been accustomed to see come to
me, I shall not recognize them, but shall ask them
all the questions I have asked them before ; and
seeing them when I am awake will alarm me ; — but
I am aware, by the state of my optic nerves, that I
shall still see them. The nerves of healthy people
often enable them to perceive them also ; but I see
more than I speak of — I penetrate quite into the
world of spirits. No one must say anything to me
of my long sleep ; but they must prepare me for the

* It is to be observed that sleep-wakers cast off all conven-
tional customs.

SUN-SPHERE AND LIFE-SPHERE. 113

spectres, or I shall be too much frightened when I
see them. I feel as if it were now the night of my
arrival here ; and, when I wake, I shall ask for my
sister Amelia, who was then with me." After
praying, she allowed us to awake her, which we did
by touching her with the mountain crystal. Her
first inquiry was for her sister, to whom she wished
to relate her long dream. However much we had
been about her, we seemed all strangers to her now ;
she only recognized those whom she had known be-
fore the 26th October 1826. She was extremely
surprised at the improvement in her own health, and
especially to find that she had no longer the miliary
fever. We told her that the physician had given
her a powder which had occasioned her to sleep
through the winter and summer. She wept at this —
expressed sorrow at having passed so much time in
a dream, and was extremely uneasy at the strange-
ness of her chamber, and the novelty of every thing
about her. She related that she had had a great
alarm in the night : about one o'clock, a figure
had entered her room, and placed himself by her
bedside, saying — '•' Tell me something consoling."
She was much frightened, and asked him what he
required of her ; and he answered that he had
visited her frequently; and then she related what
will be found in a further part of this volume. On
the following day she was still very uneasy, and at
times almost in despair, from being unable to re-
concile herself to her new condition. It was a great
error that officious persons had been permitted to

114 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

tell her too many particulars of her magnetic life ;
she was, consequently, very much dissatisfied here,
and extremely desirous of returning home. She
seemed to recollect some persons by looking hard
in their eyes ; but all traces of what she had heard,
felt, smelt, or tasted, during the latter months, was
wholly obliterated. She said that seeing appeared
to her a more spiritual faculty than hearing ; and
that, though the latter had made no impression on
her, the former had. The only flower of which she
retained an idea was the auricula, and the odour of
that she seemed to have imbibed through her eyes ;
and of all the poems she had read in the course of
her life, she remembered only one of Goethe's. In
appearance, she was much the same as she had been ;
but her voice was weaker, and she was less able to
leave her bed than before. Minerals and plants
continued to produce the same effects on her ; but
my magnetic power over her was considerably
diminished. However, it did not appear to us that
she was yet wholly out of the magnetic sphere ; and
it seemed probable that there would yet be another
awakening.

THE SPHERES.

Mrs. H said, that the time that had elapsed

when she was asleep appeared to her a circle ; and

THE SPHERES. 115

tliBre seemed to be several of these circles through
which she had passed. On the first of these were
seven stars, which were the dwellings of the blessed
of inferior grades ; the second was the moon, which
was very cold and disagreeable. The right side of
it is the dwelling of those who are to be blest, many
of whom come out of the mid region. She described
many other circles, in one of which she saw her pro-
tecting spirit, and, in another, the souls of animals.
Each circle seemed to embrace a year.

She also said that, in the sleep-waking state, when
the spirit separated itself from the body, it left be-
hind it the soul with all its sins upon it ; but the
spirits of the dead are not equally pure, for they
carry the soul and its sins with them. If this were
the case with the sleep-waker, he would never
awake. And although the spirit, in its perfect
purity, is incapable of deceit, yet, if it be not quite
free of the soul, it may, by too much questioning, be
brought to lie.

Under these circles, which the Seherin called
the orbit of the sun, or sun-sphere, she saw others
which she called the orbit of life, or life-sphere, and
sometimes her soul. These seemed, amongst other
things, to denote the different degrees of goodness ;
and there were signs and numbers upon them.
The numbers, with which she had special relation,
were ten and seventeen. The first, ten, is the in-
variable number of all mankind, and, at the same-
time, the terrestrial number. The second number is
not constant, but differs with each individual — it is

116 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the inner number, and the heavenly one. Both
these fundamental numbers are fundamental words :
in ten lies the fundamental word for man as a
human being, and for his relation to this world ; in
the other number seventeen lies the word for that
individual inner-life which he will take with him
after death. " Let not this^ however," she added,
" induce the persuasion that one who does evil was
destined to do so through this number. The choice
of good and evil is free to all men ; but he who
gives himself up to evil loses his number, and is de-
livered over to his wickedness and its consequences."
The less the soul is under the influence of the body^
and the more it is governed by the spirit, the better
we are.

The second number, which each man has, is con-
nected with the duration of his life. If so many
evil accidents come from without as to overpower
it, he dies ; when it is not disturbed, old age is
attained.

In her sleep-waking state, Mrs. H frequently

spoke in a language unknown to us, which seemed
to bear some resemblance to the Eastern tongues.
She said that this language was the one which Jacob
spoke, and that it was natural to her and to all
men. It was very sonorous ; and, as she was per-
fectly consistent in her use of it, those who were
much about her gradually grew to understand it.
She said, by it only could she fully express her
innermost feelings ; and that, when she had to ex-
press these in German^ she was obliged first to

THE SPHERES. 1 1 7

translate them from this language. It was not from
her head^ but from the epigastric region, that it pro-
ceeded. She knew nothing of it when she was
awake. The names of things in this language, she
told us, expressed their properties and quality.
Philologists discovered in it a resemblance to the
Coptic, Arabic, and Hebrew : for example, the word
Elschadda% which she often used for God, signifies,
in Hebrew, the self-sufficient, or all-powerful. The
word dalmachan appears to be Arabic ; and bianachli
signifies, in Hebrew, / am sighing^ or in sighs.

Here follow a few of the words of this inner-
language^ and their interpretations : — Handacadi.,
physician ; alentana^ lady ; chlann^ glass ; schmado^ ^
moon ; nohin^ no ; nochiane^ nightingale ; hianna
jftna,, many coloured flowers ; moy^ how ; toi^ what ;
optini poga^ thou must sleep ; mo li arato^ I rest,
&c. &c.

The written character of this language was always
connected with numbers. She said that words with
numbers had a much deeper and more' comprehen-
sive signification than without. She often said, in
her sleep- waking state^ that the ghosts spoke this
language; for although spirits could read the
thoughts, the soul, to which this language belonged,
took it with it when it went above ; because the
soul formed an ethereal body for the spirit.

Besides the range pf numbers, which we have
alluded to, as connected with the inner -life, there
appeared to be another of a deeper and higher signi-
fication, the explanation of which she could not give.

118 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

All I know relating to it is, that she was one day
trying to translate her own name into a figure, when
she burst into tears; and when I asked her the
reason, she said that she had suddenly come upon a
much deeper secret connected with numbers, in
which she had involuntarily discovered, in her name,
the number and hour of her death, but that happily
she had, as suddenly lost it again. I told her I
thought it impossible that any one's death could be
calculated by their name ; but she answered me
earnestly — " When you die, you will learn that it
is possible."

She expressed great satisfaction to Eschenmayer,
that he felt and understood the religious signification
of the spheres.

Mrs. H- said that, as in the sun's orbit, or

sphere, was comprised this world, so, in the orbit of
life lay the presentiment of a higher, which existed
in every man.

In clear-seeing, the spirit quits the orbit of life,
and enters the centre of the sun's orbit ; and then
all things become visible, freed from the veil, or
screen, which otherwise conceals them. A som-
nambule can only describe what belongs to our sun s
orbit, as the sun, moon, earth, and other planets,
and the mid-region, which is the ethereal space
around us. No somnambule has described what be-
longs to the deeper sphere of the life-orbit.

The Seeress said, that the separation of the spirit
from soul and body in sleep-waking, bore a great
resemblance to death, but was not the same. When

THE SPHERES. 119

the spirit quits the body, in the last moments, it
becomes weak and helpless — it cannot draw the soul
after it, and can only wait. The dying person is
then unconscious of all that happens — the future is
hidden from him, and he can no longer express him-
self. When, previously to this moment, a dying
person declares that he is now certain of the exist-
ence of a future state, &c., it is because the soul,
being no longer under the direction of the brain,
recovers its natural power of clear-seeing, and hope
of the future^ which had been before obscured.
When the spirit has quitted the body, the soul
knows it can no longer stay^ but struggles also to
be free. This is the moment of the death-agony;
and, at this moment, instead of the now powerless
spirit, the spirits of the blest stand by to aid the
soul ; and the struggle is longer or shorter, in cases
of natural death, in proportion to the ease or diffi-
culty with which the soul can separate itself from
earthly things.

With respect to the nerve-spirit, or nervous prin-
ciple of vitality, she said, that through it the soul
was united to the body, and the body with the
world. The facility with which this spirit freed
itself in her case, was the cause of her abnormal
condition. The nerve-spirit is immortal, and ac-
companies the soul after death, unless where the soul
is perfectly pure, and enters at once amongst the
blessed. By its means the soul constructs an airy
form around the spirit. It is capable of increase,
or growth, after death ; and by its means the spirits,

120 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

who are yet in the mid-region, are brought into
connexion with a material in the atmosphere, which
enables them to make themselves felt and heard by
man^ and also to suspend the property of gravity,
and move heavy articles. When a person dies in a
perfectly pure state — which is rarely the case — he
does not take this nerve-spirit with him ; though
indestructible, it remains with the body, and, at the
general resurrection, is united to the soul, and con-
structs it an aerial form. Blessed spirits, to whom
this nerve-spirit is no longer attached, cannot make
themselves heard or felt — they appear no more.
The purer the spirit is, the higher grade it holds in
the mid-region, or intermediate state, and the more
entirely it is separated from the nerve-spirit.

From the above disclosures of the Seeress, in her
sleep-waking state, it would appear that, when the
spirit of a clairvoyant goes forth into the centre, all
things within our solar system are unveiled to it.
This clear-seeing has become dark to man, in pro-
portion as his orbit has deviated from the centre.
He now no longer understands the language of na-
ture ; numbers and names of things are lost to him,
and, with infinite labour, he can only acquire a
glimpse of their properties. Schubert and the Seeress
seem to agree in this — that what is now learning^
was formerly intuitive knowledge. The mystery and
holiness attached to numbers, in the early ages of
the world, as seen in the prophets, and the ancient
Indian astronomical tables, appear to be connected
with this lost science. Doubtless, the early systems

THE SPHERES. 121

of philosophy, especially that of Plato, was the off-
spring of this intuitive knowledge ; and the sinii-
larity between the system of Pythagoras, regarding
numbers — as far as we know of it — and that of the
Seeress, is remarkable. Plato also says, " The soul
is immortal, and has an arithmetical origin, as the
body has a geometrical one. . It is the picture or
representation of a universal spirit ; has motion, and
penetrates into space, from the centre of the body.
It is, however, divided betwixt two accordant-inter"
mediate regions^ and forms two united spheres,"
That which Plato denominates " the motion of the
soul,'* the Seherin calls the '' life-sphere -" and what
he calls " the motion of the whole, and of the pla-
nets,'* is with her the " sun-sphere." " By this means,"
says Plato, " the soul is placed in connexion with
what is external — apprehends what exists — and sub-
sits harmoniously ; because it has within itself the
elements of perfect harmony."

In numbers originates the harmony of the world,
and the generation of all things. He who loses his
number, loses all community with the good, and dis-
order and confusion arie his portion.

Is not this what our Seeress says ? and yet she
never heard of Plato. Compare her also to Pytha-
goras, who says that numbers are the elements of
all things, and of all knowledge ; and who, by them,
solved enigmas unknown in modern arithmetic. S.
Martin, Novalis, and Swedenborg — of whom Mrs.

H knew nothing whatever — say the same thing.

So does the last of these admit the existence of a

122 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

higher sun (her sun of grace) than that we see ;
from which shines a spiritual light, as from the other
a natural light. Eschenmayer says, in regard to
this revelation of the Seeress^ '^ There are two kinds of
suns : one which we see, and which gives us light ;
and which is confined to our planet-system — a mere
drop in the ocean. But there is another — a central
sun — which we do not see, but from which all the
stars receive their light/**

Ennemoser says, ^^ If we imagine the natural
world, and all that is in it, to be a sphere — as it
really is — we shall find it has neither beginning nor
end ; it is boundless, and the past and the future are
comprised in it. (So says the Seeress, " In this
sphere I could go backwards and forwards, and see
the past and the future.") The whole world is pene-
trated with light, and man is the mirror of the divine
radiance (Abglanz.) This, according to our Seeress,
is the soul, which is the mirror of every thing that
exists. In this mirror all objects would be reflected,
were they not hidden by the thick mist of earthly
vapours. The inner-sense in man, is the burning
light — (der Geist) — the spirit ; which, however, can-
not always shine through the thick husk of the body,
but, like the internal fires of the earth, can only
break through at certain points ; that is, only in

*■ This suggests the hypothesis which has been advanced by
certain popular writers on astronomy, that as the earth is the
centre of the terrestrial, Jupiter of the jovial, and the sun of the
solar system ; so there may exist a great centre of the stellar
system itself, as one vast whole. — Translator.

THE SPHERES. 1 23

certain men — not in the whole race. The day will
come, when the whole earth will be lighted by its
internal fires ; so will man cast ofi" his thick husk,
and be dissolved in the universal light.

It is remarkable, that the Seeress placed the souls
of animals in the dream-ring — and it is true that
theirs appears to be a dreamy life — whilst, at the
same time, she seems to make this ring the repre-
sentment of the ganglionic system, with its magnetic
instincts — sympathy — antipathy — foresight, which
are so prominent in the animal kingdoms, especially
amongst birds and insects. There is also reason to
believe, that animals — as horses, dogs, &c. — are less
isolated from the spiritual world than human beings
are ; and that they are more sensible of the proxi-
mity of spirits. Old age and childhood seem like-
wise to belong to this circle ; as do saints, poets, and
l)rophets, and the infancy of the human race. The
dreams of the aged recur mostly to their early years;
which may, perhaps, indicate that they are returning
to that sphere which they had abandoned. That
compartment of the mid-region which is nearer to,
and lower than the earth, where human souls are
below the souls of animals, our Seeress places beyond
the dream-ring. There is another compartment
within the dream-ring, under which lies that appro-
priated to animals ; and this may accord with the
fact, that spirits from this lower region sometimes
appeared, not only brutified, but actually in the
guise of animals. »

Our Seeress places hell below the external mid-

124 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

region ; and the universal belief in a heaven, a hades,
and a hell, may be explained by the fact, that each
human soul is a mirror, in which every man^ who
looks within, will see all that exists, reflected with
more or less distinctness.

THE INNER-LANGUAGE.

With respect to the inner- language, the Seherin
said, that one word of it frequently expressed more
than whole lines of ordinary language ; and that,
' after death, in one single symbol or character of it,
man would read his whole life. It is constantly
observed, that persons in a sleep-waking state, and
those who are deep in the inner-life, find it impos-
sible to express what they feel in ordinary language.
Another somnambule used often to say to me, when
she could not express herself, ^' Can no one speak
to me in the language of nature ?"

The Seherin observed by Mayers said, that to
man, in the magnetic state, all nature was disclosed,
spiritual and material ; but that there were certain
things which could not be well expressed in words,
and thus arose apparent inconsistencies and errors.
In the archives of animal magnetism, an example is
given of this peculiar speech ; the resemblance of
which to the eastern languages, doubtless, arises from
its being a remnant of the early language of man-
kind. Thus, sleep-wakers cannot easily recall the

RELATION OF THE SPIRIT. 125

names of persons and things, and they cast away all
conventionalities of speech. Mayer s Seherin says,
that as the eyes and ears of man are deteriorated by
the fall, so he has lost, in a great degree, the lan-
guage of his sensations ; but it still exists in us, and
would be found, more or less, if sought for. Every
sensation or perception has its proper figure or sign,
and this we can no longer express.

In order to describe these perceptions, Mrs. H

constructed figures, which she called '' her sun-
sphere," '^ her life-sphere," and so forth.

Many instances, proved how perfect her memory
for this inner-language was. On bringing her the
lithograph of what she had written a year before,
she objected that there was a dot too much over one
of the signs ; and, on referring to the copy which I
had by me, I found she was right. She had no copy
herself.

RELATION OF THE SPIRIT, SOUL, AND BODY.

As long as the spirit maintains the sovereignty,
the true, the beautiful, and the good reside within it
in complete harmony. The soul preserves its perfect
equipoise ; and all its functions of thinking, feeling,
and willing, partake of the harmony of the spirit.
The superior region of the soul rules the inferior ;
and the intercourse of this with the body, and of the
body with the world, is so ordered, that the welfare

126 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

of the whole is undisturbed. In order to maintain
this equipoise, the soul, during its temporal exist-
ence, is endowed with freedom by God ; and it rests
with man to make what use of it he will. When
itself too much enslaved by the world, the soul draws
the spirit after it. As the soul grows mundane, the
spirit becomes troubled ; and, when it is drawn out
of its first sphere, good is mixed with evil, and the
moral laws are neglected. But when it has passed
out of the second, the beautiful is alloyed by the
odious, and the feelings become impure and corrupt.
The third ring passed, then step in error and folly,
and take the place of truth. The spirit has become
subject to the soul, and the soul to the body ; and
the fruits are deceit, sensuality, lies, wickedness, and
self-seeking. When the equipoise is thus lost, it is
very difficult to recover it, and by religion alone can
the balance be restored.

Mrs. H said, that the insane were those

whose spirit was taken captive by the soul and body ;
and that the cretins are those in whom the spirit lies
half-bound.

PHYSICAL WORTH.

Every man receives, at his generation and birth,
a faculty, which comprises the law of his develop-
ment, and the duration of his life. This is expressed
by a number ; and, if no prejudicial influences, either

MORAL WORTH. 127

from the soul or the external world, operate against
him, he reaches his appointed term ; but if the re-
verse is the case, the number is earlier exhausted, and
his life is curtailed. There is a daily waste of vita-
lity, which is also daily compensated; but, after
middle age, the bodily organism loses its energy and
nutritive powers, and gradually declines. Higher
than the appointed number life cannot reach ; but it
may be shortened — and is, in most instances. All
violent emotions, passions, and sensualities, occasion
loss to the animal economy ; and a mortal fever ex-
hausts at once the number, that had else lasted out
many years.

MORAL WORTH.

As physical occurrences, in reference to the body,
are inscribed in the sun-sphere, so are moral occur-
rences, in reference to the soul, daily, monthly, and
yearly noted. Man thinks, feels, acts, wishes, en-
joys unceasingly ; he has daily a hundred opportu-
nities of doing right : if he make good use of them,
it is his merit — if he neglect them, his fault.

But worse than the neglecting of good, is the
doing of evil ; and all being entered and set down,
there is a constant moral loss or gain ; which, as it
is to endure for eternity, is of much more importance
than the other account, which is but temporary. For
the duration of our physical life there is a number,

128 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

but for our moral merit or demerit there is none
determinate ; ^ because these extend beyond death,
atid because that perfectibility which springs from
freedom is exalted above all finite number. Imme-
diately after death, that natural language, which
lies in every man, is revealed to him^ and he reads
at once his whole life, with its acts and omissions, in
its characters. The account is engraven on his heart
in figures of fire ; and woe to him whose demerits
weigh down the balance — who has died unrepentant
in his sins — untrusting in God, and unbelieving in
his Redeemer.

[We here insert a compendious account of the
spheres, with which we have been favoured by a
scientific friend. — Translator.]

THE SPHERES THEMSELVES.

[On the third day, the Seeress designed two com-
plicated spheres, in an incredibly short time, without
instruments, with great precision, and full of related
lines. A pair of compasses, which Kerner gave her,
thinking to facilitate her work, only embarrassed her,
a,nd caused her to deviate. She spun these intricate
webs, like a spider, with unerring instinct.

These drawings she interpreted to Kerner with
simplicity and minuteness. The first of them she
called her sun-sphere, or the solar orbit of her life ;

THE SPHERES THEMSELVES. 129

and she often repeated, that every one carries such
a sphere of relative life around that which she re-
presented as his proper life -sphere. This sun«sphere
is rather a series of spheres, drawn around one centre.
The successive spheres alternate in their properties,
in the same manner as the alternate spheres of re-
pulsion and attraction that surround the sun, and are
commonly represented to the popular reader as the
centrifugal and centripetal forces of that luminary.
It is evidently this analogy, that compelled Mrs.
H to symbolize her enunciations on this sub-
ject in language belonging to the sun, and other
celestial bodies.

The circumference of the best marked of all these
orbits, seemed to come out from the pit of the sto-
mach— to lead over the breast — and pass round close
by the left side. This is nearly a sphere of ten
inches diameter, described round the ideal centre of
the sympathetic system of nerves. It is an ideal
globe, placed in the left- front-side ; and including
within it the heart — the roots of the lungs — part of
the stomach — and, in fine, the principal ganglionic
plexuses of nerves.

Outside this is a boundless sphere, like the outer-
most sphere of repulsion of a sun. This boundless
one is really the first ; but that which has been just
described is always called the first, or great orh'it,
by the Seeress. Within the latter are six other
orbits, successively — 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th.

The first (or, as she once calls it, the sixth, in-
verting the order she afterwards follows) was accom-

130 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

panied, at its circumference^ with a sensation, that
suggested the conception of something higher than
nerve, which she calls nerve-spirit."^ The area of
this first orbit was divided into twelve parts or seg-
ments, and marked by a great many points in its
periphery. In the outer half — L e, that which lay
outside the pit of the stomach and breast — seemed
to lie the work-day world of man. She there felt
the spirit (Geist) of all with whom she had acquaint-
ance^ but without their bodies or their names. Kerner,
least of all, was sensible to her as a body ; she saw
him, like a blue flame, at a particular point of the
orbit, moving perpetually in the sphere, accompanied
by his wife a little farther off.t This first orbit
was to her like a wall, beyond which she could not
move ; shut up within it, she was home-sick. Her
consolation was, that she could speak to man the
better from that withdrawment. She felt fixed to a
particular point in the sphere, without power to ad-
vance ; but regularly, at mid-day and midnight, she
was pushed half a point forward, making one point
in the twenty-four hours. The day seemed to impel
or shove her.

In the outer orbit, over which seven stars seemed
to shine, she was at ease and happy ; she spoke into

* This appears to us to be nothing more than the abstract idea
of nervous influence impersonated, as waking speculators are
prone to do. — Translator.

*|- It must be remembered, that Mrs. H was in intimate

rapport with Kerner's wife, w^ho had considerable magnetic power
over hfer.— Translator.

THE SPHERES THEMSELVES. 131

the world from it^ and thought Kerner alone heard
her. In the second orbit she found it cold and re-
pulsive. She spoke not — only swam hither and
thither over it — and twice saw into it, but only what
was too horrid to remember ; yet this orbit had the
light of the moon in it. She averred that these
seven stars signify nothing else but the stars, and
the cold orbit the veritable moon. " These stars are
the abodes of blessed ones of a lower grade." The
second cold orbit is the abode of such as grow (i. e. are
in the process of growing) holy ; but that only on
its right side.

The third orbit is sun-clear, and its middle point far
clearer. In it she seemed to peer, with other spirits,
down into an impenetrable deep of clearness^ which
she expressed as the sun of grace. Here she spoke
out into the world, as in the first ; and, still more
than in the first, nobody seemed to hear her but
Kerner — she was still more isolated from all but him.
In its clearness she saw her conductress, (or protect-
ing spirit,) except in its too bright mid-point,
and from this orbit the prescriptions appeared to
proceed^ she knew not how ! This is the dream-
ring. In it she saw an intermediate region, and a
region for the spirits of beasts — the latter undermost
— all clearer than our day, with an uniform clear-
ness, without light and shadow.

When she wished to penetrate to the central orbits,
she had to bethink herself of the month, day, hour,
minute, and second in which she was ; and then,
whilst reading them ofi*, she seemed to ride into these

132 THE SEERESS OP PREVORST.

three innermost orbits as on a straight sunbeam. In
all these she could see both past and future, history
and prophecy.

She asserted, that no sooner has a sleep-waker
seen thus into the middle-point of the sun-sphere,
through the successive orbits, than in an instant he
is incapable of falsehood — he is a pure spirit. The
spirit goes out from him all alone ; whilst the soul
remains behind, with his sins, in the body.

The spirit of one dead is not a pure spirit, because
it is accompanied by the soul and its sins ; whereas,
with a sleep-waker, (as such,) it is as if the fall of
man had never taken place, else would he never
awake. A sleep-waker, however, only in the first
sphere — at the seven stars, where the soul still ac-
companies the spirit — may be seduced into deception,
especially by harassing questions. Of the seventh
and boundless sphere, which she expressed as a
coming year, (each orbit being a figurative year or

revolution,) Mrs H only felt it was not like the

rest. Pursuing her allegorical way of speaking, she
said, that every seven years these solar orbits fell off
her, and their entire contents could be expressed in a
cipher, or a point, in which all the hours, minutes, and
seconds of the seven years should be contained. So can
one, at death, review his whole life in one figure.

Respecting these six spheres, and the seventh
unbounded one, she said a great many singularly
coherent things besides. The Pythagorean numbers
7 and 3, with the multiples of the latter, are con-

THE LIFE-SPHERE PROPER. 133

istantly repeated in the sketches. She told Kerner
how to magnetize her for the current month, finding
the directions in the orbits. But the student, de-
sirous and capable of entering into this subject, must
have recourse to a sedulous perusal of the original
for further details. The mathematical form, and the
numerical precision of this revelation, are surpassed
in interest only by the fact, that the diagrams sha-
dow forth some of the profoundest truths in the
highest departments of physical science.

THE LIFE-SPHERE PROPER.

Under, or within these successive orbits of the
sun-sphere of life, appeared to lie another — the life-
sphere proper — with thirteen three-quarter segments,
instead of the twelve possessed by the orbits of the
former. She often called this orbit of life her soul.
The sense of its existence was not so oppressive to
her as that of the former. As this work-day world
lay in the sun-sphere, so in this lies something more
exalted than itself— something which descends on
every man from a higher world. As she spoke out
her sensations when in the atmosphere, so here she
saw them represented in figures and diagrams. In ar :
word, this life-ring is the seat of the soul, (Seele,)
and the place of its confluence with the spirit, (Geist.)
(By the word soul, is signified the abstract idea of
the sum of all the intellectual and moral faculties ;

\

134 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

and by the word spirit^ is indicated the pure reason
— the conscience — the intuitive sense of the good,
true, and beautiful — the over-soul — in one word, the
Holy Ghost; all which are synonymous.) Here, in
this ring, she learns a number of well-known maxims
of religion, and states them in spherical figures of
speech. Two numbers rule the sphere, 10 and 17 :
The 1 0 is a constant number for all mankind, and is,
at the same time, the earthly one, by means of which
the spirit can go out into the external world ; and
the 1? is the celestial and inner number, and may
vary with every man. This varying number is a
sort of balance, keeping his account with heaven for
good and evil ; and, if the evil so far outweighs the
good, he may lose his number altogether.

It is impossible to give the reader a more detailed
account of this sj)here, and its revelations, without a
full translation : suffice it to say, that it is just the
enunciation of the principles of a more spiritual
Christianity than is usual in any country, and that
given in the form of a spherical diagram, with middle-
point, radii, circumferences, compartments, and nu-
merical signs. She even invents symbols to express
her numbers. She indites poetical addresses to God,
and descriptions of the sacred sphere itself, when
residing there, withdrawn from all that lives beyond
herself. She is a Pythagorean to the core. " It
seems to me," she says, " that every man has such
numbers and words appointed him from his birth,
but no two the same words and numbers ; I mean,
that such orbits go through the whole of nature —

EXPLANATION OF THE SUN-SPHERE. 135

including all that live and weave — pervading all
creation, from beginning to end."

Here, in fine, she felt her true inner-life to be led,
with figures, signs, and words for itself — here she
spoke in an unknown tongue, creating sonorous, as
well as visible symbols, for the expression of her
spiritual experiences. In truth, here she resembled
those enthusiasts who have appeared, from time to
time, in connexion with almost every form of reli-
gion ; yet there is a singular difference : they rave,
but she is calm — they are often ridiculous, but she is
admirable throughout — they are, not unfrequently,
terrible to behold, but she is sublimely accessible —
above all, they are incoherent ; but she represents
her experiences and opinions in the shape of a physico -
mathematical diagram, recording her inward obser-
vations from day to day.]]

EXPLANATION OP THE SUN-SPHERE DESCRIBED BY THE
SEERESS*

This sphere was unfolded during the last magnetic
year, from Christmas 1826 to Christmas 1827, when,
according to the Seeress, it melted away, and gave
place to a new one ; whilst all that had been per-
manently good in its experiences was woven into the
life-sphere.

The difference between common and magnetic
vigilance, is the same as between the intellectual and

136 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the spiritually intuitive life. In the former, a man
has laid claim to an outward existence, and prose-
cutes all sorts of intercourse with nature and man-
kind ; in the latter, having abdicated this objectivity,
he strains down into the deeps of spiritual life alone.
In the one, the spiritual faculty is dispersed (like the
radiance of the sun) over the external world ; in the
other, it is concentrated into a focus, which illumines
all the sphere of existence. In the first, the varied
products of the mind can be summoned before the
consciousness, at will ; in the second, the produc-
tiveness of the mind is in abeyance, and we are
allowed a glance into that mystery of numbers, with
which the spirit eliminates its products.

Somnambulists say, " I feel — I behold ; " never,
" I understand — I trace — I discover." Their com-
munications are not like knowledge acquired, a pos-
teriore, by the understanding ; but like direct intui-
tions. Every time a clear -seer pronounces a number,
she beholds it (painted) within : the number passes
out of the native system of numbers, into the pre-
sence of the consciousness, (and that by a peculiar
internal impulse,) where it then stands suffused with
light. When she would speak out of the unknown
natural language, she looks upon the characters —
feels their meaning — and then translates the words
into her ordinary language;, whatever that may be.
When she prescribes for herself, the properties of all
things are clear to her ; but only one — or say a few
— accord with the internal requirements, and these
she at once selects. When she foretells the time,

EXPLANATION OF THE SUN-SPHERE. 187

frequency, and violence of her own crises, she looks
upon her organical type.

In all these states, the will is powerless, as well as
the more educated intellect : passions and propen-
sities lose their usual supremacy — all is absorbed
into harmony with the spiritual instinct. Goodness
and truth are imaged in the intuition of beauty,
while the lusts and appetites withdraw (from before
the mirror.)

In a word, common waking seems to consist in
outward freedom and internal bondage ; magnetic
waking, in external bondage but inward freedom.

Let us now inspect the sun-sphere more closely.

1. The outward ring signifies the beginning of the
instinctive life — the withdrawing of the spirit from
the exterior of life, and its involution towards the
centre.

2. The partial blue ring, between the two outer-
most peripheral ones, signifies the magnetic aura,
felt like a band, produced by the ordinary applica-
tion of magnetism. Mrs. H called it a mag-
netic wall, isolating her from the outer world. It
does not go the whole way round.

3. The second complete ring is divided into 365
days and 1 2 months ; and from this issues the radi-
ance towards the centre. From this, developed by
the magnetic rapport^ proceeds somnambulism, and
takes its aim against the interior of the life of
spiritual instinct. In the different compartments
into which the radii divide this ring, were stored
all the occurrences and disturbances of the magnetic

138 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

life, which befell her in the successive months of this
magnetic year. At the end of each month a num-
ber is elaborated, which represents the sum of these
disturbances ; and from month to month it becomes
larger, till it attain a maximum which has its root
in the number native or peculiar to her as an indi-
vidual.

4. The spaces between these two and the next

included rings Mrs. H delineates as her spirit-

world. The spiritual appearances with which almost
daily^ and certainly without being magnetized, she
stands connected, form an episode in this magnetic
history so peculiar, that no similar narrative is
extant. Her daily intercourse with so many beings,
invisible to us, thronging around her, and continu-
ally ascending before her out of the mid-region, as
she calls it, and all in order that, through prayer,
they might regain their true relation to Christ and
salvation through him, forms a singular chapter in
this history,

5. The next included ring — that is, the third
one — is bordered by bright little spheres, which are
carried into the compartments of the month, there
being one for each. In the middle lies the number
ten, with which every one reckons outwards, as well
as the number seven — being that with which Mrs.

H counts inwards, which is variable in each

individual.

It is here that the deeps of intuitive life are first
opened up in magnetic rapport^ in clear-seeing, in
sympathies and antipathies, in prescriptions for her-

RELATION OF LIFE-SPHERE TO SUN-SPHERE. 139

self and others^ in divination, in the transference of
the senses to distant parts, and especially in all
those revelations which are peculiar to the higher
states of somnambulism.

6. The three spheres lying immediately round the
mid-point are set all round with little stars. When
asked if this might not indicate the locality of the
spiritual heaven, she replied — '^ These stars signify
nothing but stars."

7. Out of the mid-point of the sun-sphere, into
which the spirit transfuses itself, it looks backwards

to the centre of the life-sphere, where Mrs. H

places the sun of grace. Behind that sun there
basks, in ineffable beauty, the abode of the blessed,
which Christ has assigned as his own domain ; but
no mortal eye can gaze into it. We can know no
more than is revealed by the glance which flashes
for a moment in the spiritual eye — and even that
must be instantly turned away, or be stricken blind.

RELATION OF THE LIPE-SPHEEE TO THE SUN-SPHERE.

Mrs. H said that the sun-circle, or sphere, is

the world, and that every man carries the residue of
it into the life-circle of his soul. As this world lies
in the sun-sphere, so there lies a much higher in the
life-sphere, whence every man has a presentiment
of another world. The clear-seer steps out of the
life-circle into the sun-circle, and beholds all that is

140 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

within the comprehension of man. But this faculty
has become more obscure since man has lost his in-
tegrity. From the centre of the sun-sphere, the
spirit beholds the world as it really exists — without
veil or screen. If the spirit looks longer in this
centre, it glances momentarily back to the centre of
the life-sphere — which is a much deeper seeing;
and what he has here seen only remains with him
as a presentiment. The centre of the sun-sphere
must be sometliing different from the spirit, because
the spirit looks into it when it goes forth.

The beholding of the mid-region is different, for
this lies wholly in the sun-sphere, which is alike in
all men. The reason that so few men perceive this
(objective) spiritual kingdom is, that their spirits are
not able to place themselves in the centre of the
sphere. It is mostly magnetic persons that can do
this ; and, therefore^ it is they who see spirits.

By the fall, the spirit has lost its integrity, and is
prismatically broken ; it is coloured and troubled
like a ray of light that has passed through a prism.
The cloud of the life of appearance intercepts its
view — the ideas of the true, and the beautiful, and
the good, no longer exhibit themselves to it ob-
jectively, as they exist in the universal scheme. As
Plato says, it has lost its wings, and, with the
soul, is absorbed in the body and the world ; and
all that remains to it is a striving to regain those
wings.

When the spirit is drawn from its sphere, ac-
quired knowledge takes the place of the intuitive ;

RELATION OF LIFE-SPHERE TO SUN-SPHERE. 141

but the former is imperfect, and cannot supply the
deficiency of the latter ; but the spirit still strives
after what it has lost. The expression of this
striving is the true philosophy ; and it remains true
so long as it does not seek to identify itself with
the fulness of revelation. The Scriptures say that
man came pure from the hands of God, though he
has since fallen from his purity; but that he may
recover it through mediation and redemption. The
cause of the fall was sin, which has not only drawn
the spirit from its centre, but out of its sphere ; so
that the worship of the one true God is split into a
thousand fragments of the physical word, and a
thousand idols of the human world. Truth and sin
are two ever-receding poles ; and we can only ap-
proach the one as we retreat from the other. There
are many kinds of philosophy, but there is only one
that is true ; and therefore, for two thousand years
the fate of all its systems have been an invariable
cycle — a mere labour of Sisyphus ; for no sooner
have they reached their culminating points, then
down they fall again.

The functions of the soul are — thinking, feeling,
and willing — but the lowest of these is thinking ;
and those systems of philosophy which exalt it above
the others are of the lowest grade. Enlightenment,
enjoyment, light and love, are not the ojffsprings of
thought ; they have a higher source. The functions
of thinking, feeling3 and willing, originally belonged
to the spirit ; but, since the fall, they have detached
themselves, and each seeks its own independence—

142 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the result of which is, that the understanding is no
longer in union with the other two.

If the philosophy of religion were founded on a
real basis — such as is here intimated — and were
further deyeloped, the conviction would soon follow,
that truth can only be elicited by exchanging the
false centre of the absolute for the sun of grace, and
worldly wisdom for the gospel.

THE SEVENTH SUN-SPHERE.

On the 1st of May 1828, Mrs. H said that she

felt something remarkable would occur to her ; she
knew not what it was, but hoped it would be for the
best. After the news of her father s death — which
she received on the 2d May, and which, as we have
mentioned, she foresaw — her convulsions ceased ;
but, in spite of this, her magnetic condition aug-
mented, and she was in the sleep-waking state
several times every day. She told us that she could
no longer move backwards and forwards in her sun-
sphere as before ; and that the stroke, or line, in her
life-ring, which should not have reached the centre
till December, had suddenly sprung forward ; and
that, as she had not strength to push or shove it back
again, so much time was lost to her, and she feared
it would occasion her death. The whole of the 7th
was passed in a state alternating between dreaming
and catalepsy. At one time her protecting spirit

THE SEVENTH SUN-SPHERE. 143

appeared to her, pointing to a half-open coffin, which
she interpreted as signifying that some peril impend-
ed over her life. On the 8th, at seven in the even-
ing, according to her own sleep-waking instructions
— she being at the time in a state of catalepsy re-
sembling death — I called to her, addressing my
words to the pit of her stomach — '^ Do not forget
this last year up to the present evening." Without
this she told me that she should lose all recollection
of the years that had elapsed since the commence-
ment of her illness — a thing she could not endure
the thought of. At my voice she started from her
death-like state with a cry of terror, and an aspect
of despair, but fell back immediately into her pre-
vious insensibility. Presently she awoke, seeming
unable to comprehend her situation, or recognize the
circumstances that surrounded her. She said that
the whole of her seventh sun-sphere had fallen off;
but whether she should enter on a new one, she could
not tell — she could see nothing beyond the present
day, and must keep herself as composed as she could,
in order to preserve her recollection. Her speedy
closing in or environment (Eingesperrtseyns) seemed
to be the next thing she foresaw.

On the 15th, she somewhat recovered her recol-
lection of that period which had become obscured to
her ; and she lost the feeling of her spheres alto-
gether— even the time at which she had made them
appearing already dark and distant, whilst that
which had preceded it now seemed the latest. The
recollection of this last was at first dim, but gradually

] 44 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

brightened, until she recalled every circumstance
that had occurred with the greatest vividness. This
kind of phenomenon is often observed in old people.

On the 27th of January 1829, Mrs. H being

in her sleep-waking state, said that she felt her
seven sun-spheres had fallen off ; and that had not
the last been cut through, as it had been, that with
this crisis she should have recovered her health.
The months of the sun-sphere, in which she then
was, would last only to the 2d of May, instead of
till the 27th December^ as they should have done.
By this loss she was thrust out of these months ;
and she believed that she was about to die, since these
four months were all that were yet pending.

On the 2d of May she fell into a magnetic dream,
in which she as usual spoke aloud, somewhat to the
following effect : — " I am on a mountain — Oh ! might
I go down to the right, over those golden clouds,
where I see that flowery vale ! To the left I see
nothing but graves and corruption — behind me I see
mankind struggling and fighting, like lions and tigers
— to the right the flowers are smiling on me, but I
will to death and the grave. Must I fall under this
stroke ? Lead me where thou wilt — Oh ! fearful
dream ! — Oh ! guide me ! Must I sink into the
abyss ? Thou art powerful and strong — Do I under-
stand thee aright ? — Must I remain on this moun-
tain ? Yes, I must stay till the hour is come ; but
thou art with me by day and night — if thou forsakest
me, I fall. Oh ! let me awake from this fearful
dream!" &c. &c.

THE SEVENTH SUN-SPHERE. 145

She was now in a new sphere^ and a new magnetic
life, in which she described her inner faculty of see-
ing as deeper than ever, although she should not
speak out what she saw^ as before. She said, her
body was dead whilst yet alive, but that her soul
was more free and calm than ever. ^^ Let my body
be no more regarded — be no care taken of it ; 'tis
a torn garment, that I no longer value — into thy
hand, 0 Lord ! I commit my spirit." This was the
presentiment of her approaching death ; and, from
this time, she herself maintained the indifference she
recommended.

Although highly magnetic, and in a state of ex-
treme debility, her sufferings had certainly been much
alleviated during her residence at Weinsberg. She
had more internal lucidity and calmness, and she had
been cheered and consoled by intercourse and com-
munion with many worthy men ; but it was not in
the power of her friends to defend her from the un-
favourable circumstances that, just at this period,
acted so prejudicially on her health — we allude more
particularly to the death of her father, and the sick-
ness of her child.

On the 5th May 1829, she returned to Lowen-
stein, there to fulfil her destiny.

And now, dear reader, was not the lot of this poor
being a most pitiable one ? But all things that come
from God are for the best, though we understand
them not ; and the soul's health of this poor sufferer,
and of those who take part in her pains, may per-

K

146 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

haps be the blessed fruits of her agony. Go ye into
the world, my reader; and if the former part of
this book be not to your mind^ trouble yourself with
it no more — go ye into the world, which will tell you
that all this is deception^ or the effects of a diseased
imagination ; but wait till the still, midnight hour
finds you at the bed-side of the dying, or till the
parting hymn is sung by the grave of your well-
beloved. The tumult of the world drowns the voice
of our sweet mother, nature ; but the time comes at
last, when the wheels stop — the clamour ceases — and
that loving voice strikes in full accord upon our
hearts ; and then we stand amazed, that all our life
long such a chorus of heavenly harmonies had been
calling to us, and we heard them not.

PART SECOND.

REVELATIONS CONCERNING THE

INTER-DIFFUSION OF A WORLD OF SPIRITS

IN THE ONE WE INHABIT.

THE SEERESS OF PREVOKST.

INTRODUOTIOK

Beloved^ when you read these pages, although you
be yet in the flower of youth, remember that life
flies like a dream ; and when it is gone, what will
avail all the knowledge you have acquired as a means
to honour and fame ? You believe in a future state,
but think little of the way that leads to it. You
turn away your eyes from the picture of old age
that awaits you,, and seek to drown the warning
voice within, by the distractions of the world with-
out. But you cannot silence it, for it is the voice
of God ; and do what you will, it will yet cry to
you, in the midst of pleasures, " Thou must die!"
And when death threatens, you cling to the weak
science of man, and rest dearer hopes on an apothe-
cary's draught, than on all the treasures of the world.
And how little even do those who, by satiety of
life are led to desire death, think of what awaits
them ! They hope they are not wicked enough for
eternal punishment, and trust that God is too merci-
ful to condemn them to it ; and they believe that, in
quitting this world of care, they are going to an in-

150 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

heritance of heavenly bliss. May these pages, which
will not please the multitude — for the truths they
disclose are too contrary to their hopes and wishes —
may they, oh, beloved reader ! in spite of the ridi-
cule and incredulity of the world, awaken thee to
serious consideration. Well I know, that all the
ordinary views of this life — of soul and spirit — and
of the present world and the next, must be altered,
before mankind can bring themselves to believe what
is here written ; and that, rather than make this
sacrifice, he will reject the whole, though the ex-
change had been a happy one. Under these circum-
stances, nothing remains for the investigator but his
good intentions, and the beneficial purpose to which
he has endeavoured to direct these events ; — for the
rest, he must wrap himself in his mantle, and defy
the storm.

THE SEEEESS OF PREVORST.

OF THE MAGNETIC MAN, IN HIS APPROXIMATION TO THE
WORLD OF SPIRITS.

However superficially we observe the course of na-
ture, we cannot help remarking that she always
advances by minute steps — that her progress is a
chain, of which no link is wanting — and that she
makes no abrupt transitions. Thus, in the stone we
see the plant — in the plant, the animal — in the ani-
mal, man — and in man, the immortal spirit. And
as the wings of the butterfly are folded in the cater-
pillar, so in man — especially in certain conditions —
the wings of a higher Psyche are revealed, ready,
after his short earthly life, to be unfolded ; and, by
the magnetic man, before whom time and space are
unveiled, we learn that there is a super-terrestrial
world. The magnetic man is an imperfect spirit.
In the polypus, which is the link between plants and
the brute creation, we see both an imperfect animal
and an imperfect plant ; whilst fixed to the earth
like a plant, it stretches its arms into the animal
world, and thus bears witness to it. And, in like

152 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

manner, we see the magnetic man, whilst yet in the
body, and enchained to the earth, putting forth feelers
into the world of spirits, and bearing witness to that
also. Such a striving after, and upward flight into,
the world of spirits, we observe in all magnetic sub-
jects ; but never yet in so great a degree as in the
case now before us. We have seen, in the former
part of this volume, how this nerve-spirit — arrested,
as it were, in the act of dying — became sensible of
the spiritual properties of all things — properties, to
our more closely imprisoned nerve-spirits, altogether
imperceptible.

We have seen how this being — almost a spirit
— releasing itself from its earthly husk, ranged
through time and space ; and is it much more
strange, that through the same faculties which en-
abled it to perceive properties in earthly things, of
which we are altogether unconscious, it should also
be sensible of supernatural appearances, which are
to us imperceptible ? Man is apparently a link
between blest and unblest spirits — or, in other words,
between angels and demons — and, though an inde-
pendent and self-existing being, is yet subject to the
influences of both. Doubtless, the laws of nature,
as far as we yet know them, are more especially
fitted to this middle-sphere, in which we think, feel,
and will ; and are in less relation with those higher
and lower powers, whose existence is denied by those
independent spirits, who feel no innate presentiment
of it.

We are not here going to ofl'er a theory of appa-

THE MAGNETIC MAN. 153

ritions — whether our readers may look upon them
as mere illusions of the brain^ or be willing to accept
the facts we shall offer as competent proof — but only
to examine whether, in the disclosures of the Seeress,
any reasonable foundation for belief can be found.

According to her, the nerve-spirit is the remnant
of the body, and, after death, surrounds the soul
with an aerial form. Being the highest organic
power, it cannot by any other, physical or chemical,
be destroyed; and, when the body is cast off, it
follows the soul ; and as, during life, it forms the
only bond that unites the soul with the body and
the world, so is it also the means whereby the soul,
whilst in the mid -region, can make itself manifest
to man — of which power the atmosphere is the in-
strument. In our ordinary condition, our senses are
incapable of discerning these phenomena, just as we
are incapable of perceiving the principle which pro-
duces seeing and hearing ; because the subject can-
not, at the same time, be the object.

But in the abnormal magnetic state, such condi-
tions are possible. The nerve-spirit — which, in our
waking life, acts through the senses on the objective
world — in the magnetic life is more concentrated
and self-reflecting, whereby the sensorium attains
an unwonted energy. It creates internal senses for
itself out of the nervous plexuses, whilst the exter-
nal senses are more and more shut up. And thus,
the sensitive life of the soul is augmented and
strengthened, by the reinforcement of the knowing
and willing powers, which unite with it.

154 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

In the same manner, the soul takes its direction
towards its original centre, and knowledge is ele-
vated into clear-seeing; and, under these circum-
stances, not only may the spirit be able to place
itself in the centre of its orbit, but also those things
which are hidden to ordinary eyes — as the inhabit-
ants of the mid-region — may be visible to the excited
senses of a magnetic subject.

Unless we look upon these supernatural appear-
ances as mere chimeras, we must grant, that the
preternatural lustre that shone from the eyes of the
Seeress, when she beheld them, affords at least some
confirmation of what she related to us regarding
their frequent visits, and of how the dark forms
gradually became brighter whilst she prayed. Her
eyes shone like a flame, in which the dark spirits
sought to sun themselves ; and where, it is probable,
they found a gleam of that sun of grace, from them
wholly hidden. It is remarkable, that the Seeress
placed the dwelling of the blest, and the sun of
grace, in the centre of the sun's orbit, and the ap-
pearance of the unhappy spirits in its middle-region.
The first belongs to the supernatural — the last, to
the sub tern atural. Betwixt these lies the nature of
man, which, in the high magnetic state attained by
our Seherin, is placed in contact with both.

REMARKS ON GHOST-SEEING. 155

SOME REMARKS OF THE SEHERIN ON THE SUBJECT OF

GHOST-SEEING.

Persons whose life is in the brain — but especially
those in whom it is more in the epigastric region —
are occasionally capable of ghost-seeing; but the
apparition is always seen by the spiritual eye through
the fleshly. Through the soul may come presenti-
ments, and the sensibility to spiritual things ; but
clear-seeing never. When, however, the spirit is
excited by the soul, ^Jhl-/<inxhnoJiV iiiki ghost-o^eeiiig
may occur ; but, with those whose life is chiefly in-
tellectual, this can only be momentary. The brain
can contend, and resist ; but it is only those whose
life is in the epigastric region, who see them as I do ;
and, in such cases, there is no power of resistance.
Certainly, these forms are not the ofispring of my
imagination, for I have no pleasure in them ; on the
contrary, they give me pain, and I never think of
them but when I see them, or am questioned about
them. Unfortunately, my life is now so constituted,
that my soul, as well as my spirit, sees into the spi-
ritual worlS — which is, however, indeed, upon the
earth — and I see them not only singly, but frequently
in multitudes, and of difierent kinds ; and many de-
parted souls.

I see many with whom I come into no approxi-
mation, and others who come to me, with whom I

156 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

converse, and who remain near me for months; I
see them at various times by day and night,
whether I am alone or in company. I am perfectly
awake at the time, and am not sensible of any cir-
cumstance or sensation that calls them up. I see
them alike whether I am strong or weak, plethoric or
in a state of inanition, glad or sorrowful, amused,
or otherwise ; and I cannot dismiss them. Not that
they are always with me, but they come at their
own pleasure, like mortal visiters, and equally
whether I am in a spiritual or corporeal state at the
time. When I am in my calmest and most healthy
sleep, they awaken me — I know not how, but I feel
that l%m awakened' by fllem — and that I should
have slept on had they not come to my bedside.
I observe frequently that, when a ghost visits me
by night, those who sleep in the same room with
me are, by their dreams, made aware of its presence ;
they speak afterwards of the apparition they saw in
their dream, although I have not breathed a syllable
on the subject to them. Whilst the ghosts are with
me, I see and hear every thing around me as usual,
and can think of other subjects ; and though I can
avert my eyes from them, it is difficult for me to do
it — I feel in a sort of magnetic rapport with them.
They appear to me like a thin cloud, that one could
see through — which, however, I cannot do. I never
observed that they threw any shadow. I see them
more clearly by sun or moonlight than in the dark ;
but whether I could see them in absolute darkness,
I do not know. If any object comes between me

REMARKS ON GHOST-SEEING. 157

and them, they are hidden from me. I cannot see
them with closed eyes, nor when I turn my face
from them ; but I am so sensible of their presence^
that I could designate the exact spot they are stand-
ing upon ; and I can hear them speak although I
stop my ears. I cannot endure that they should
approach me very near ; they give me a feeling of
debility. Other persons who do not see them are
frequently sensible of the effects of their proximity
when they are with me ; they have a disposition to
faintness^ and feel a constriction and oppression of
the nerves ; even animals are not exempt from this
effect. The appearance of the ghosts is the same
as when they were alive, but colourless — rather
greyish; so is their attire — like a cloud. The
brighter and happier spirits are differently clothed ;
they have a long loose shining robe, with a girdle
round the waist. The features of spectres are as
when alive^ but mostly sad and gloomy. Their
eyes are bright — often like a flame. I have never
seen any with hair. All the female ghosts have the
same head-covering — even when over it, as is some-
times the case, they have that they wore when alive.
This consists in a sort of veil, which comes over the
forehead and covers the hair. The forms of the
good spirits appear bright — those of the evil dusky.

Whether it is only under this form that my senses
can perceive them, and whether, to a more spiritu-
alized being, they would not appear as spirits, I
cannot say; but I suspect it. Their gait is like the
gait of the living, only that the better spirits seem

158 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

to float, and the evil ones tread heavier ; so that
their footsteps may sometimes be heard, not by me
alone, but by those who are with me. They have
various ways of attracting attention by other sounds
besides speech ; and this faculty they exercise fre-
quently on those who can neither see them nor hear
their voices. These sounds consist in sighing,
knocking, noises as of the throwing of sand or
gravel, rustling of paper, rolling of a ball^ shuffling
as in slippers, &c. &c. They are also able to move
heavy articles, and to open and shut doors, although
they can pass through them unopened, or through
the walls. I observe that the darker a spectre is,
the stronger is his voice, and the more ghostly
powers of making noises, and so forth, he seems to
have. The sounds they produce are by means of
the air, and the nerve-spirit, which is still with
them. I never saw a ghost when he was in the act
of producing any sound except speech, so that I
conclude they cannot do it visibly ; neither have I
ever seen them in the act of opening or shutting a
door, only directly afterwards. They move their
mouths in speaking, and their voices are various, as
those of the living. They cannot answer me all
that I desire ; wicked spirits are more willing or able
to do this, but I avoid conversing with them. These
I can dismiss by a written word, used as an amulet,
and free others from them as well as myself.

When I talk to them piously, I have seen the
spirits, especially the darker ones, draw in my
words, as it were, whereby they become brighter ;

REMARKS ON GHOST-SEEING. 159

but I feel much weaker. The spirits of the happy
invigorate me, and give me a very different feeling
to the others. I observe that the happy spirits have
the same difficulty in answering questions regarding
earthly matters, as the evil ones have in doing it
with respect to heavenly ones ; the first belong not
to earth, nor the last to heaven. With the high and
blessed spirits I am not in a condition to converse ;
I can only venture on a short interrogation. I am
told that, when asleep, T often spoke with my pro-
tecting spirit^ who is amongst the blessed. I know
not if this be so ; if it were, it must have been in
moments when my spirit was disjoined from my soul.
When soul and spirit are united, I cannot converse
with the blessed.

The spirits who come to me are mostly on the in-
ferior steps of the mid-region, which is in our atmo-
sphere; but mid-region is a misnomer, and I call it so
unwillingly. They are chiefly spirits of those who,
from the attraction of, and attachment to, the ex-
ternal world, have remained below — or of those
who have not believed in their redemption through
Christ — or who, in the moment of dying, have been
troubled with an earthly thought which has clung
to them, and impeded their upward flight. Many,
who are neither condemned nor placed amongst the
blessed immediately after death, are on different
stages of this mid-region; some, whose spirits have
been purified, are very high. On the lowest degree,
these spirits are still exposed to the temptations of
the wicked ; but not in the higher, where they

160 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

already enjoy heavenly happiness, and the purity of
the blessed.

But it must not be thought that improvement is
easier there than here ; it must originate with them-
selves ; there are no worldly distractions or dissipa-
tions ; the whole sinful life lies comprised in a single
sign, or character, before the spirit, and he has to
choose betwixt heaven or hell. Those on the lower
degrees, who are the heaviest, are in a continual
twilight, with nothing to delight their eyes. This
dimness does not belong to the place they are in, but
proceeds from their own souls. The orbit of the sun
is no longer visible to them ; and, although they are
in our atmosphere, they have no eyes for earthly
objects. It is only by their inward improvement
that they obtain light and the power of seeing. As
soon as they have light in their souls, they can quit
our atmosphere, and they can see light again. These
are they who mostly come to me ; whilst I am un-
happily so constituted that I can see them, and they
me. They come to me that I may aid them through
prayer, and give them a word of consolation. Others
come under the erroneous persuasion that the avowal
of some crime, which weighs upon their spirit, will
bring them rest. Under the influence of this error,
they are often more anxious about some single mis-
deed, than about all the rest of their ill-spent lives ;
and others still come to me to whom some earthly
feeling or thought has clung in death, which they
cannot shake off. It were better they addressed
themselves to the spirits of the blest; but their

REMARKS ON GHOST-SEEING. 161

weight draws them more to men than spirits. They
come to me, and I see them independently of my
own will.

These revelations will appear to many incredible
and absurd — especially to those who are of opinion
that a spirit must know more than a human being ;
but I answer that this is not the case with these
spirits ; they are in a very inferior state, are mostly
entangled in error, and can more easily approach
man, with whom they are in a sort of nervous rela-
tion, than heavenly spirits. A spirit that has lived
in - darkness here on earth, remains dark after
death. And thus a weak spirit becomes weaker
after death, when it has no longer the support of the
soul, which then only serves it for a shell ; or rather
the amount of his weakness is exposed by his stand-
ing alone and unsustained. A sinful and worldly-
minded man may shine on earth by the strength of
his intellect ; but his spirit is only the weaker and
darker, and wholly lost to its inner -life. And thus
also it arises that, in the kingdom of spirits, such a
one is much lower than his arrogant and lying soul
caused him to appear in the intellectual kingdom.
If, however, a man ha^s highly cultivated his soul
and spirit, he cannot, after death, fall into this
heavy and impotent state ; but, by cultivation^
something is implied of a much more elevated nature
then is commonly understood. But even in these
powerless spirits, except when completely given over
to evil, the heavenly spark is not wholly extinguish-
ed ; these seek always to draw the soul to them,

L

162 THE SEEHESS OF PREVORST.

till it is at length purified, then they become wholly
spirits. Such spirits, when they are not entirely
pure, enjoy a certain degree of happiness in the mid-
region, in which they may rise higher, but can sink
no more. The forms of these spirits appear to me
brighter, as does also their attire ; — in short, they
are spiritualized.

We will here add a few particulars gathered from
the Seherin in conversation, and from her letters to
Eschenmayer on the same subject.

He asked her — " Can all men see ghosts, or only
those in whom a spiritual eye shines through the
fleshly one V

She answered — " The power of ghost-seeing re-
sides in all men, but is seldom active, and only
momentary, since it must be excited by something
that calls forth the inner-man ; and this is generally
dispersed and suppressed by reason."

On the subject of the growth of children in the

other world, Mrs. H said — " I once asked a

spectre whether human beings grew after death,
because I had seen some who had died in early
youth that seemed to have become much larger?
and he answered — ' Yes; when they are taken
from earth before they are full grown. The soul
constructs itself a larger shell till it is as large as
required. With children this is as bright as with
the blessed.' "

On being asked whether the undeveloped faculties
of children were developed after death? she answered,
that they were developed through the nerve-spirit.

REMARKS ON GHOST-SEEING. 163

which remained with the soul ; but that we were
unable to conceive the power and purity of children,
who have all that their heavenly Father gave them,
not having deteriorated their soul and nerve-spirit
by words or works. But men must not, therefore,
desire to die in their childhood, for a life spent after
God's will ensures a still more blessed state. But
what purity and elevation might we attain even on
earth, if we did not so weaken the powers of our
soul by our words, works, and thoughts. Our flesh
would be purified, and all our faculties exalted.

With respect to the condition of the heathen after
death, the Seherin said — " Some days since I asked a
ghost, who had some degree of brightness, where he
was, and with what he, and the spirits that were
with him, engaged themselves." He answered — " I
am not in the mid-region ; I am in a certain de-
gree of happiness — in that wherein are placed the
heathens, and all those who, by no fault of their
own, remained ignorant of their Lord and Saviour.
We are there instructed by angels until we are ripe
for greater bliss."

On being asked whether mankind could release
spirits, she answered — " No ; they must release
themselves from the bonds that hold them. They
seek help from living men ; and have the idea that
we can help them, because they have no compre-
hension of the great Redeemer. We can only be
mediators, as I am. I always seek to persuade
them from their error, that I or others can help them.
I pray earnestly with them, and wean them more

lb* THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

and more from the world ; but it costs much labour
before such souls are turned to the Lord. When
they have no good inclinations^ we can only com-
prise them in the universal petition for our neigh-
hours. There are many instances in which the half
unblest — those in a middle stage — could raise them-
selves higher, since it depends on themselves to
frequent good spirits, and be instructed by them,
when their progress would be much faster than by
the assistance of mortals."

We thus learn by these revelations of the Seherin,
that virtuous heathens, and all upright men_, are
destined to happiness hereafter ; but that a belief in
the Christian religion being absolutely necessary to
perfect salvation, they must be instructed in it by
angels, even after death, before they can enter into
the kingdom of God ; and when Christ says that he
will draw all to him, and that there shall be but one
flock and one shepherd, he includes the heathens,
and alludes not only to the earth, but to the king-
dom of heaven also ; and when he has sent the
Gospel to the heathens, and has drawn them into his
fold, we may be certain that a state of bliss will be
prepared for them very different to that they aspire
to.

OBSERVATIONS BY ESCHENMAYER. 165

OBSERVATIONS ON THE REVELATIONS OF MRS. H , BY

ESCHENMAYER.

According to Mrs. H , the life of the brain is

the intellectual life, that in the epagastric region the
sensitive life. This last is deeper and more internal
than the first ; it lies in the centre of the organism
of the soul, and is a central power, whilst the intel-
lect is only a peripheral, or partial power. All
those who place the true above the beautiful, under-
standing above emotion, the inductive above the
ideal, &c. &c., pervert the nature of the soul, and
can never comprehend the distinction made by Mrs.
H .

" Spirits," says Mrs. H , " are seen by the

spiritual eye through the fleshly one."

The fleshly eye perceives such objects as have
colour and form, and gives us intelligence of those
that are in the light, or reflect it ; and this it does
by means of the nerve-spirit, which resides in the
nerves. But there is, besides this, a spiritual ray
and a spiritual eye, to which the nerve-spirit itself
becomes objective. Suppose, then, beings whose
forms are identical with the plastic plan of the nerve-
spirit itself, as Mrs. H describes the departed

souls, the spiritual eye will perceive them through
the bodily one. In ordinary waking persons, the
cloud of our life of appearance interposes betwixt the

166 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

fleshly and spiritual eye, and they then see nothing
but material superficies. And when now and then
a spiritual ray does pierce through the cloud of our
intellectual life, it is only momentary ; and our
reason rejects and disputes the airy form of a de-
parted soul that has presented itself to the spiritual

eye. But, in that emotional life which Mrs. H

lived for several years, this may become a permanent
condition. No person who had ever seen the pecu-
liar piercing look (Stechblick) that Mrs. H 's

eyes assumed, and which each time was accompanied
by a sort of nervous shock, which pervaded the
whole body, when she perceived the image of the
inner-man in any one*s eye, could for a moment
doubt that she had a faculty of seeing different to
that of ordinary human beings.

She distinguished the bright from the dark spirits
— designating one as the good and the other the evil ;
and such is the difference betwixt the kingdom of
light and truth, and that of darkness and lies. The
evil ones are, also, the apparitions, who make them-
selves audible by means of the nerve-spirit and the
air. But how is this possible ? Is it not the in-
tensity of the nerve-spirit that, whilst we are alive,
rules our corporeal mass, so that the muscles are
only the medium by which the strength of the nerve-
spirit accomplishes the motion required ? But this
strength, so far from being proportioned to the mass,
exceeds it immeasurably ; so that, by the force of
the nerve-spirit, an insignificant muscle can move
a great weight. Let us take away the corporeal

OBSERVATIONS BY ESCHENMAYER. 167

medium — which is what happens in death — the
power still remains — namely, the nerve- spirit, which,

according to Mrs. H , the soul after death usee

as its instrument.

And thus we are not far from the conclusion, that
this power may imitate various sounds by means of
the air, and, by its own pressure, remove weights.
We are accustomed, indeed, to see forces exerted
through material mediums ; and yet force is opposed
to matter. Who shall weigh the lightning, which
resists all weight ? The nerve-spirit, being an
organic power, has yet more intensity than the
lightning ; and, to exhibit itself, it needs no instru-
ment but the air.

How the soul is to exist after death, is assuredly
a question worth asking. A soul given wholly to
the world retains this direction after death; for it
would be strange if such an one could be suddenly
purified from his vices and sins. The existence of
the soul after death is a universal belief ; but the
conditions of this existence few trouble themselves
to inquire. This indifference is painfully disturbed
by the Seherin, who exhibits to the worldly-minded
the picture of their own future state, and shows us,
miserable God-forsaken souls, who once enjoyed all
the pleasures of this life, bearing about the burthen
of their sins upon them. In describing the states of
the rich and the poor man, the Bible only exhibits
the extremes, leaving the intermediate conditions
to be understood. The Seherin justly says, that, in
the higher grades, the soul feels too much happiness

1^8 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

and purity to be exposed to the temptations of the
wicked ; but^ in the lower compartments, on the
contrary, the spirit is left to work out its own im-
provement; there are no distractions nor worldly
occupations there ; the whole sinful life lies before
the eyes of the spirit in one single character^ (or sign
of the natural language,) and he has to choose be-
tween heaven and hell. Those who have been
baptized in Christ carry this seed above with them,
although it may have struck no root on earth ; and
there it may be cherished and tended till it becomes
itself a flower of light, and overgrows the weeds
that starve it. Prayers are the living waters that
quench the tantalizing thirst of these unhappy spirits ;
but why did they address themselves to the Seherin
for aid ? Because, she answers, she was so consti-
tuted that they could naturally see and hear each
other. And thence may be conceived an equally
mutual incapacity in the case of persons in a normal
condition. The spirits came from their dark dwell-
ings to sun themselves in the bright light that shone
from her bodily eye.

Mrs. H says that — ^' A sinful worldly-minded

man may shine in this life by the force of his in-
tellect ; but his spirit is but the weaker and darker,
and incapable of looking within. When he dies, the
soul that sustained him here becomes only the husk
of his spirit — the weak dark spirit, which is now
the ruler. Alas ! what then ? A profound truth
this! The highest intellectual wealth may be the
accompaniment of the most lamentable moral poverty.

OBSERVATIONS BY ESCHENMAYER. ] 69

But it is only our moral gains that will be carried
to our account in the next world ; our knowledge
will not be reckoned, for it has there no value unless
it has been devoted to purposes of religion and
virtue. The Scripture says — " I will bring to nought
the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of
the prudent will I overthrow. The wisdom of this
world is foolishness with God."

The peculiar property of the pure spirit is seeing ^"^
not knowing. All human knowledge is defective ;
and when the spirit is absorbed in the soul, and
knowledge supersedes seeing^ it is overshadowed,
and loses its integrity. A second property of the
spirit is freedom ; but not that freedom which reason
has set up for itself, but that which proceeds out of
the worship of the heart, t And a third, is the con-
ception of the harmony that exists between the true,
the beautiful, and the good ; and not their severance
— each for itself — as is the case in the organism of
the soul. All those systems which establish their
absolute in knowledge, radiate from a false centre ;
they place freedom below the law, and know not love ;
for where love begins, there the law ends. Christ
has said, "I am the truth ; the "Word is the
truth ; the Holy Ghost is the spirit of truth." In
the Word dwells the spirit of truth, and there alone
can our spirits find their purification. All philosophy
is true and complete which aspires to holiness, and

* Das Schauen — intuitive knowledge or feeling ; inspiration. —
Translator.
t The obedience that makes free. — Translator.

170 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

homologates itself with the Word ; and all philo-
sophy is false and partial, which fixes its centre in
either the understanding of the true, or in the idea-
lizing of the beautiful, or in striving after good alone.
But falsest of all is the scholastic, which represents
nothing but an intellectual game of chance, which
reason plays with itself ; glorifying itself upon the
lucky combinations of the dice, however short the
duration of its triumph ; for soon another arises to
confound the lucky cast, and establish a new system.

Mrs. H remarks, that her description of the

apparitions will appear, especially to worldly minds,
incredible and absurd. I do not doubt it ; for who
will believe in so distasteful a region of unsubstantial
shadows ? But what if one arose from the dead to
tell us it is so ? Still it would not be believed. Now,
/ believe, that when we cast off our body, the laws
of nature cease, and the wisdom built upon them be-
comes vain ; whilst a moral law of a very different
kind will supersede them. With those whose wis-
dom is of this world, we will not dispute ; we will
only urge them in their ideal conception of another,
to give precedence to moral merit or demerit.

I support this history upon two grounds ; 1^^, The
evidence which I received from the lips of persons
worthy of the highest credit, and testimonies such as
no similar history can adduce ; and, ^dly. On the
problem which each person may propose for himself —
namely, to find as appropriate a condition for the re-
probate, after death, as that described by the Seherin.

EXPLANATIONS RESPECTING GHOST-SEEING. 171

FURTHER EXPLANATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE SEHERIN S
FACULTY OF GHOST-SEEING.

This faculty of ghost-seeing, which was found in

SO high a degree in the case of Mrs. H , resided,

more or less, in several other members of her family,
especially her brother. He had seen apparitions at
an early period, when he was absent from his sister ;
and later, when with her, he often saw those that
were standing near her, or passing through the room.
He once said to me, softly, " There is a spirit passing
through the room into my sister's chamber ;" and he
had hardly spoken, when we heard Mrs. H con-
versing with a spirit, which stood visibly before her.
But he had not this faculty at all times, though she
had ; for, one evening, when she called to me and
him to come and see this same spirit, which was then
in her chamber, he could not see it, although she
could, except when I unconsciously placed myself in
a position to intercept her view of it.

Her child also, only three years of age, gave many
decisive proofs of possessing this faculty.

A sister of Mrs. H 's, a very simple, unso-
phisticated girl, had so acute a sensibility to the
proximity of these immaterial beings, that, without
actually seeing them with her eyes, she could give a
description of their appearance, according with the
reality described by Mrs. H . She said, *^ I do

172 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

not see them with my ordinary eyes — I see them
from within ;" yet this girl was never somnambulic,
and was in perfect health.

Novalis is of opinion, that when we see a ghost,
we become momentarily magnetic. This was cer-
tainly the case with Mrs. H . A glass laid on

the pit of her stomach made her more awake ; and,
remarking this, 1 told her sister, when next she ob-
served that a spirit was present, to apply a glass in
this manner. She did so ; and the effect was, that
the spirit appeared to grow darker and larger, and

Mrs. H became very much terrified — a thing

that was quite unusual with her. It would thus ap-
pear that, to the spiritual inner-eye, a ghost seems
brighter than it would do to the fleshly eye ; and it

was the opinion of Mrs. H , that she probably

did not see the spirits as they really were.

A very honest and truthful young girl of Lowen-

stein, who for some time waited on Mrs. H ,

was obliged to resign her situation, because she saw

all the spectres that entered Mrs. H 's chamber,

even whilst they passed through the anti-chamber ;
and could describe them exactly, in conformity with

Mrs. H 's description, only that they appeared

to her darker, and more grim. She is the only per-
son I know of who heard the spirits speak as well

as Mrs. H . Many other persons were made

conscious of their proximity, by a sensation of faint-
ness and anxiety ; and those who slept in Mrs.

H 's room were frequently afiected in their sleep

by these spiritual visiters, and related their dream on

EXPLANATIONS RESPECTING GHOST-SEEING. ITS

wakening. Thus, spiritual life^ dreaming^ sleeping,
and deaths seemed all commingled.

Mrs. H was of opinion^ that a person not

ordinarily gifted with the faculty of ghost-seeing,
was more likely to have this perception in winter
than in summer. Doubtless, at this season, telluric
life preponderates ; and hence the significance of the
holy period of Advent, and that from Christmas eve
to Twelfth Night, which is supposed to be particu-
larly appropriated to the appearance of spectres.

These spirits were audible to many and various
people, but only accidentally ; never when they were
watched for. The sounds they made chiefly resem-
bled slight knockings, as on the wall, table, bed-
stead, and sometimes in the air ; rustling as of paper,
rolling of balls, and pattering of feet. Frequently,
especially when a certain dark spirit was about to
appear, (whose history will presently be given,)
there were sounds as of the throwing of gravel or
sand, combined with actual throwing of substances
— on one occasion, pieces of lime. These sounds

were not only heard in Mrs. H 's apartment, but

in other parts of the house — even our own bed-
chamber— as long as she inhabited the lower room.
This was also the case in the other two houses she
resided in ; and these noises were also heard in the
chambers of other people, sleeping under the same
roof with her ; as also strange sensations, as of pres-
sure, &c. &c. Nay, not only so, but these sounds
would be heard in the houses of persons into whose
door she never entered — having been, indeed, for

174 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

some months confined chiefly to her bed ; they were,
however, those who visited her, and whom the dark
spirit, therefore, molested.

Thus, Mr. Zenneck, a merchant of Stuttgart, re-
lated to me, that after spending the evening with

Mrs. H , there had been a singular opening and

shutting of doors in his house in the night, and
sounds like throwing of sand and gravel in his bed-
chamber. He resided not far from Mrs. H ,

but had never heard a syllable on the subject of the
dark spectre. The same circumstance occurred to
Mr. Wagner, an artist at Heilbronn. I conjectured
the cause of these sounds^ but did not communicate
my suspicions.

I myself once saw a spectre, at the moment that

Mrs. H 's eyes were fixed on it. To me the

outlines were not distinct ; it looked like a pillar of
vapour, or cloud, of the size of a man ; it stood by
her bed-side, and she was speaking to it in a low
voice. She told me afterwards, that it was the
spectre of a tall, old man, who had visited her twice
before. It is remarkable, that on his first appear-
ance, her sister had seen it ; and also another per-
son, who discerned it as distinctly as Mrs. H

herself.

To the above-mentioned servant girl, the spirits
appeared in darker hues than to Mrs. H . An-
other person once saw one, like a grey cloud, but
with more defined outlines than I had done.

In many accounts of spectres, the sounds we have
described are alluded to ; these being, possibly, the

EXPLANATIONS RESPECTING GHOST-SEEING. 175

only means these beings have of making their pre-
sence known to mortals. The darker the spirit was,
the more these sounds seemed to be in their power ;

which Mrs. H explained, by saying, that to

them the nerve-spirit, by whose means the noises
were made, was more closely appended — less dis-
joined.

This nerve-spirit, invisible to us, belongs to the
potencies of nature — if not physical, at least organic.
Our muscles were dead flesh without it — from it we
derive all our energy ; for the simple contraction of
the muscles is not power. It is the will of the nerve-
spirit, flowing through our fibres, that causes con-
traction. As long as we are in objective relation
through our bodies, the nerve-spirit can only exhibit
itself by the body ; but, when freed from this, it can
produce sensible eff'ects on the world of mind and
matter, by means of a substance it extracts from the
atmosphere. Thus is the question of unbelievers
answered, ^^ How can a spirit produce sounds ? "

But they still cry Mrs. H is a deceiver — all is

imposition !

I visited Mrs. H at least 3000 times — passed

hours and hours with her — was better acquainted
with her associates and circumstances than she was
herself; and I gave myself inexpressible pains to
investigate all reports, but I never could discover
deception ; whilst others, who never heard nor saw
her, and who spoke of her as the blind do of colours,
detected the imposition without difficulty.

Mrs. H — — never spoke voluntarily of these ap-

176 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST*

paritions, for the subject gave her pain ; and when
she did so at my request, or that of others, it was
with a simplicity and conviction that often affected
even unbelievers. She considered this gift of ghost-
seeing so great a misfortune, especially from the
gossip it occasioned, that she often earnestly prayed
to God to take it from her ; and she once wrote to a
friend on the subject, in the following terms : — " If
I could prevent these spectres knowing of, or visiting
me — could I entirely dismiss them, or cause other
people to see them, (which last, however, I cannot
desire,) my situation would be much amended ; for
I frequently feel myself alone — deserted and mis-
understood by a great part of the world. But it is
the will of God, and I am silent."

'' When the advantages and disadvantages of those
who are so organized, as to have eyes for the invisible
world as well as the visible, are balanced," says
Kant, " this gift appears to resemble that of Juno
to Tiresias, who gave him the gift of prophecy, but
made him blind."

All who took the trouble to observe and prove
Mrs. H , became convinced of her truth, single-
ness of mind, and piety. She did not expect other
people to believe in the reality of these apparitions ;
neither, she said, did God require it of them. " Un-
fortunately for me," she would say, " my life is so
constituted, that these spiritual beings see me, and I
them ; but others have no part in these preternatu-
ral phenomena, and they are welcome to believe
them visions or optical illusions if they please. None

EXPLANATIONS RESPECTING GHOST-SEEING. 177

need desire to see them ; I know too well, from my
own experience, the injurious effects of this faculty
upon the brain."

I long entreated Mrs. H to procure that I

should hear a spectre ; and as, at a later period, this
often happened, I next begged her to obtain that I
should see one ; but she said that did not depend on
her will. Some persons looked upon this desire as a
sin ; but Eschenmayer says, in his " Mysteries,"
that as these facts did not simply regard magnetic
phenomena, but involved subjects of the deepest in-
terest to mankind, as communications from the dead^
&c. &c., he looked upon it as part of the duty of a
physician. He made the same request, but she gave
him the same answer ; adding, that it could only
happen under certain circumstances. Doubtless,
those who, in ordinary life, do see them, are momen-
tarily in a magnetic state ; but the brain quickly
resuming the ascendent, they think they have been
deceived.

Many persons thought, that this ghost-seeing, on

the part of Mrs. H , originated with me, and

those about her ; but Mrs. H was not like some

dependent somnambules I have seen ; she stood alone.
8he appeared, to those who knew and understood
her, as a very sensible woman, in a very abnormal
state.

The first time she mentioned having seen an ap-
parition, I reproved and contradicted her, conceiving
it to have been only a vision ; and although time

M

178 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

and circumstances changed my opinion, I never
ceased trying to persuade her, that the spectres she
saw were merely occular illusions, like those of Nicolai
and others. But, in spite of this, they still fre-
quented her — were often heard and felt by others —
and one extraordinary fact followed hard upon an-
other.

With respect to the ghost-seeing originating with

me, Mrs. H^ saw them before she came to me,

and when she was under a magnetizer who did not
believe in them. Her belief was in no degree shaken
by my doubts, nor by my declarations, that there
could be no perfect convictions unless others saw
them too.

In my own house, I can bear witness, not only to
the sounds of throwing, knocking, &c., but a small
table was flung into a room without any visible
means ; the pewter plates in the kitchen were hurled
about, in the hearing of the whole house — circum-
stances laughable to others, and which would be so
to me, had I not witnessed them in my sound mind ;
but which become doubly significant, when I com-
pare them to many accounts I have heard of the
like nature, where there was no somnambule in
question.

At my request, the Prelate von Marklin spoke to

Mrs. H , and endeavoured to argue her out of

her belief in the reality of these apparitions, he being
himself an entire disbeliever in such appearances.
She listened to him with satisfaction, but the spectres

EXPLANATIONS RESPECTING GHOST-SEEING. 179

came no less ; nor were their visits less frequent
when she was surrounded by friends who not only
did not believe, but laughed at the whole story.

An acquaintance of Mrs. H 's, who sometimes

visited her, one day informed us that a friend of hers
was dead. This person had promised her that he
would appear to her after death, and we conse-
quently hourly expected to learn that she had seen
his ghost ; but days, weeks, and months passed, with-
out any such event happening. Then the acquaint-
ance owned, that not believing in the reality of these
apparitions, he had said it for an experiment; the
person was not dead.

Another experiment was made as follows : Mrs.

H was frequently visited by the spectre of a

deceased person, of whom she had never seen or
heard anything whatever. A friend bade her learn
of this ghost the period of his birth, which neither
she nor I knew. This was done ; but when our
friend made inquiry of his relations whether the
time mentioned was correct, they said, " No." This
our friend wrote to us ; and I read the letter to Mrs.

H , advancing it as a strong argument against

the reality of the apparitions. She answered, un-
moved, that she would inquire again. She did so,
and the answer was the same. I wrote again to my
friend, saying so, and begging him to ascertain more
particularly the period of the birth in question ; and,
on doing this, he found that the relations had been
in error ; the time had been correctly named.

I could relate many other equally remarkable facts

180 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

but that I should be encroachiug too much on the
privacy of the parties concerned. I am aware that
many persons will remain utterly incredulous ; and
we desire to force our belief on no one, though our

own conviction remains unshaken. Mrs. H had

this gift from her childhood, and continued to have
it, in spite of all our efforts ; so have many other
persons of robust health, without being in a magnetic
state at all. But these phenomena are always attri-
buted to insanity, and, therefore, never investigated.
This faculty was natural to Mrs. H , but, doubt-
less, was heightened by her magnetic condition.

Although healthy persons seldom possess this fa-
culty in the same degree that Mrs. H did, yet

many persons have it more or less. A remark-
able example occurred to Councillor S 1 at

Neustadt. Though, from his 20th to his 65th year,
he had excellent health, and led an active life ; yet
he was endowed with a faculty of clear-seeing almost
amounting to sleep-waking. He could, like our
Seherin, discern the inner-man through the outward
husk, and had the gift of presentiment.

" Once," said he, " as I was lying in bed, plan-
ning the marriage of a certain young person with a
relation of my own^ the curtains of my bed were
drawn aside, and an arm was thrust in. In the hand
was a tablet, on which was inscribed, in strange cha-
racters, altogether unknown to me, ' Frederika will
be married in three years, four months, and two days.'
Amazed that I should understand it, I nevertheless
took a note of the words, and the date. The young

EXPLANATIONS RESPECTING GHOST-SEEING. 181

lady did not marry my relation ; but I afterwards
heard that she married another person exactly at
the time named/' The inner-language, frequently
alluded to, will here be recalled to mind.

This gentleman was wont to say, that the spectres
he saw appeared of a bluish-grey, and attired as
when alive. In places frequented by spirits, a strange
feeling warned him of their proximity — not fear ; for
that they never inspired. ^^ I often observed," said
he, " that animals were sensible of their presence,
when persons about me were not. For the rest —
although I could speak, and enter into closer com-
munion with them, I never do, but seek to avoid
their proximity." The robust health, and active
life of this gentleman, renders his case the more
remarkable.

The gift of Swedenborg is well known. Claudius
says, '^ Whether Swedenborg was a fool, or really
saw spectres, remains a question ; but we can scarcely
doubt that there are spectres ; and Swedenborg so-
lemnly declared, both in the course of his life, and
on his death-bed in London, in 1771, that he had
seen them." Our Seherin bore the same testimony
in her last moments.

" People seek to account for the apparitions seen
by the Seherin von Prevorst," says Friedrich von
Meyer, " by adducing those seen by Nicolai ; Blake,
the English painter, who could call them up at will ;
and many other melancholy, nervous, and hysterical
persons — and we are far from supposing that all
ghost-seeing is objective ; it is often subjective — but.

182 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

in these cases, all appertainiDg circumstances must
be taken into consideration ; and we cannot be as-
sured that the forms seen by Nicolai and Blake were
purely the offspring of imagination — they may have
been a mixture of reality and delusion/'

" In fine, people may explain these phenomena as
they please/' says Eschenmayer ; '' we will refer to
the words of the prophet — ' And it shall happen
in the latter days that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh ; and your sons and daughters shall
prophecy ; and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams. And in
those days I will pour out my spirit upon my men-
servants and my maid-servants, and they also shall
prophecy/ "

^' Ever and anon," says Kerner, " a ray bursts
through the mysteries of creation, and penetrates
the cloud of our factitious life. He who looks up
to heaven, sees this ray, like a flash in the night,
which, for a moment, illuminates a region unknown ;
but he whose eyes are fixed on the earth, cannot see
this ray, and for him all is night. But the recol-
lection of this unknown region, dwells for ever in
the mind of him who has once perceived it, and thi-
ther all his energies are directed ; but he who sees it
not, seeks it not — he lies wrapt in the cold arms of
the earth, of which he is born — the caterpillar, hid
in the ground, can only, through a long, long, pro-
cess of metamorphosis, become a butterfly/'

BELIEF IN SPIRITS. 183

THE BELIEF IN SPIRITS IS GROUNDED IN NATURE.

A belief in the proximity of spirits, and of the
souls of the departed, is common to all people ; it is
innate in the human broast, and only suppressed by
education and culture. The sages of old speak con-
fidently of a spiritual region, of the middle-state
after death, and of a moral weight or heaviness
which, after death, drags the impure soul back to
the earth. Plato tells us, that when a pure soul
l.eaves the body, it goes at once to God and immor-
tality ; but that the impure, who loved only their
body, and studied only to satisfy its desires, and in-
dulge its passions — who loved not wisdom, and whose
eyes were blinded — cannot shake off the flesh. It
accompanies them, and drags them down to the earth ;
and the spectres that hover round their own graves,
and appear to mortals, are of those who could not
separate themselves from their bodies, and who have
preserved some means of rendering themselves visible.
(According to the Seherin, this is the nerve-spirit.)
" It is not," says Plato, " the pious souls, but those
of the ungodly, who revisit the earth."

The testimony of many trustworthy and sensible
persons of the present day should also be considered.
I know a number of such, whose experience tends
to confirm these views ; and I am acquainted with
many houses, which have long had the reputation of

184 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

being visited by apparitions. I could relate numer-
ous authentic histories of this nature ; but, having
been communicated to me in private circles or letters,
I could not give my authorities, without too heavily
taxing that human weakness, which shrinks from the
ridicule of the world, on these subjects.

Mayer observes, how much more advanced we
should be in the knowledge of these spiritual mat-
ters, were we not restrained from avowing and inves-
tigating them, by a childish fear of the world ; and
instances the case of Lichtenburg, a very sensible
and philosophical-minded man, who relates that,
being one night in bed, he found himself suddenly
seized with an unaccountable anxiety about fire,
which he could not overcome ; and he fancied, at the
same time, that he felt an unusual warmth at his
feet, as if from a neighbouring fire. Presently after-
wards the alarm-bell rang, and I found the fire was
not in my chamber, but in a tolerably distant house.
Lichtenburg adds, " I have never related this cir-
cumstance before, as far as I remember ; because I
did not choose to take the trouble of defending it
against the ridiculous views which might be taken
of it, nor against the scorn of philosophical oppo-
nents."

Kant, that deep thinker, says, that he knows as
little what is to be the condition of man after death,
as he does how he comes into the world ; or how an
immaterial spirit can be confined in a material body,
and make it the instrument of its will. Neither, he
says, can he feel himself authorized to reject all

HADES, OR THE MIDDLE-STATE. 185

ghost-stories : for, however improbable one, taken
alone, may appear, the mass of them, taken toge-
ther, command some credence.

ON HADES, OR THE MIDDLE-STATE.

Thirty years ago, a controversy was raised by the
theory of apparitions, propounded by Young, as to
whether the Bible countenanced the belief of a
middle-state after death, many being of a contrary
opinion. But Young calmly and confidently main-
tained his own, and came triumphantly out of the
dispute, it appearing incontestible that the New
Testament supports this belief; and that, up to the
period of the Reformation, the Church inculcated it.
But the Reformers set themselves against this per-
suasion ; and Luther, in his translation of the Bible,
struck out the words Hades, and the Hebrew equi-
volent Scheol, and always translated them hell^ or
the grave. The curious reader may find in Young's
Apology, the various references to the Bible which
are connected with this subject.

Nevertheless, Luther was entirely of opinion that
the dead may appear to the living, as his own writ-
ings and experience prove ; and Melanchthon not
only believes, but gives a remarkable example,
drawn from his own family — his father's sister
having appeared to her husband after death, and
earnestly conjured him to pray for her.

186 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

In the Greek version of the Testament, the word
Hades is always substituted for Scheol, both having
the same signification. But the highest condition in
Hades was one of bliss ; and, up to the time of Christ,
this was by the Jews called Paradise, as the lowest
place was called Gehnenna ; and by this we obtain
an explanation of the parable of the rich and the
poor man : 'the former was in the lowest part — the
place of torture ; the latter in the highest — in Abra-
ham's bosom. Neither do Christ's words to the
thief on the cross contradict this belief; he does not
promise that the thief is immediately to enter heaven,
since he himself did not do so, according to his own
words : "I have not yet ascended to my Father."
When he died upon the cross, he passed into that
state of transition prepared for all souls ; as when he
entered the world, he came into it^ as all men do,
from his mother's womb. It is not consistent with
Scripture, nor with the nature of things, that man,
with the corruptions of the world on him,, should
pass at once from the body into the presence of God,
It is an acknowledged truth of revealed religion,
that men carry their works with them to the other
world — that is, their frame of mind, their desires,
their aims, and their habits ; and it is remarkable
how much the ancient mythologies accord with this
view ; and the old poets do not cease to wonder that
men cannot leave their cares and their loves behind
them. Hence arises the anxiety of the dead with
respect to the honourable disposal of their bodies —
of which Pliny the younger relates an instance, and

HADES, OR THE MIDDLE-STATE. 187

which Young refers to the lamentable remnant of
earthly prejudice which clings to the spirit. And
thus, reader, will the doubts of the doubter cling to
him^ and he will not enter the kingdom of heaven till
he receives it like a little child. And if he believed
not in God from his works when on earthy he may
doubt his existence still, for he will no more see him
than he did here. He will associate with sinful souls
like himself; and he may still doubt the necessity
of virtue, the efficacy of repentance, and the salva-
tion through his Redeemer. He will despise God's
messengers as he did here ; and, as here, he will
attribute his misery to anything but its real cause.
True faith is an earnest desire after God, and the
whole purpose of his gracious institutions ; but to
attain this, we must cast off our pride of human
understanding, and be humble and poor in spirit.
Without this, how shall we see God ? It is, as we
have said, not the blessed, but the unblessed spirits
that return to earth. They have not cast off their
low desires and unworthy thoughts when they cast
off their body ; these have followed them ; and is it
to be wondered that their weight should bring them
back to earth where their treasure is ? " Where thy
treasure is, there shall thy heart be also." And it
is their punishment that, whilst they are shut out
from the joys of the righteous on the one hand, they
are, being incorporeal, excluded from earthly plea-
sures on the other.

" Now, when the body dies and falls to dust,"
says Jacob Bbhm, himself a clear-seer, " the soul

188 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

retains its form, as well as the will that animated it.
It is certainly away from the body, because in death
there is separation ; but then the form appears with
and in those things it here affected, with which it
had assimilated and become saturated ; for they had
their sources in itself. It yearns after the things it
loved on earth — after all that it had treasured^ and
its will had consented to. If a man expend his
heart and affections in pride during his lifetime, the
same emotion shall spring up in the soul-fire over
his spiritual body, drowning all love and meekness,
as well as divine freedom, within him ; and he shall
not be able to learn and enjoy anything ; but pride
shall swell within him even unto anguish, and he
shall vainly long for those things in which he had
been used to take delight. And he shall even glare
up and swell in pride in the soul-fire, until he quench
the tender mercy of God ; for he can get no new
heart, nor can he enter that holy mystery where,
happily, he might have obtained a better will ; but
he shall live alone within himself, and naked — pos-
sessing nothing, and attaining nothing, but what he
had already imbibed in the world. Suppose, like-
wise, a miser, who, when in the body, had sold his
soul to avarice, and would be ever seeking more and
more ; and now the desire that he yearned after in
the flesh will be figured in the spirit. When he has
shaken off this existence, and his being is no longer
terrestrial, he shall still distort the will of his soul
into that passion, and plague and torment himself
therewith."

HADES, OR THE MIDDLE-STATE. 189

Might we not believe that Bohm had sketched
this picture from the apparitions that appeared to
the Seherin_, so entirely do they resemble each other?
According to her, the soul takes up with it the
balance of its worthiness, or unworthiness, as it may
remain in the life-sphere ; whilst the sun- sphere,
which served it for external movement and inward
reflection, having completed its cycle, falls off at
death ; then moral merit or demerit, vices and crimes,
are figured in the spiritual form by means of the
nerve-spirit, which the soul has taken with it.
False knowledge and erring affections adhere to it
there, where no new knowledge or affections can
reach it, since, with its fleshly body, it has lost all
access to improvement or earthly aid. Love — the
love of Christ alone, can help it — show it the way
to hea\en, and furnish the downward-tending soul
with wings to reach it.

The other world is a righteous world, where lies
and wickedness are known ,by their die. Our
Seeress has merely the faculty of recognizing the
form without the substance, and the garment by its
tint, without the woof and warp. Since we logically
separate form from substance, we must admit that
the former may subsist without the latter^ and may
still endure when the substance has fallen off — espe-
cially in a world where substance is not. There are
diorama glasses that reflect a picture, with all its
forms and colours, as if they were realities — what
substance is there here ? — so is it with the departed
soul. The profligate may appear in the form of an

190 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

animal, which in life he resembled ; and the crime
of infanticide is imaged bj the apparition of such a
woman with a murdered child in her arms. In this
world, men has need of a solid body — in the other,
no such necessity exists. Where matter encounters
matter, it meets with opposition ; but the insubstan-
tial forms of the departed souls pass as easily through
a wall as through an open window. The nerve-
spirit must not be confounded with imponderable,
and still less with ponderable, substances. It is a
power higher than all physical or chemical forces ;
and, when it is free, these can offer it no resistance,
whilst it can use them as its instruments.

Our Seeress is right in representing the spirits in
the mid-region as more ignorant than they were
when alive. Wrenched from those worldly con-
nexions and dependences which constituted their
wisdom, there remain only their former desires
without the means of gratification^ together with the
recollection of their sins. Plato says — " He who
has lived a vicious life, is more a brute than he was
before." It is natural, too, to suppose^ that like
will associate with like; and thus, when spiritual
ignorance is general, there will be no instruction to
be got. The evil, separated from the good, 'must
help themselves, and redeem the time lost on earth
with tenfold labour. The moral laws of punishment
and reward in the next world are as precise as the
physical laws in this ; and every spirit will recognize
the lot that awaits him as the natural consequence
of his conduct here. And thus left to himself.

CONCERNING THE ANNEXED FACTS. IJJl

without his accustomed earthly nourishment^ de-
prived of the light of the sun and the verdure of the
meadow, as in the land of shadows and of death, does
the butterfly unfold his wings, the brighter and more
glorious for the darkness and loneliness in which the
change has been consummated.

Every thing here adduced, duly considered, the
following inferences are incontestible : —

1. That moral weight, (sin,) like physical weight,
drags downwards, and impedes the disunion with the
world.

2. That when the substance (the flesh) is cast off,
the form remains.

3. That the form, being without substance, can
only present itself in the plastic shape, (Schema,) or
typical ethereal image.

A FEW WORDS CONCERNING THE ANNEXED FACTS.

Regarding the facts I am about to relate, I have
only further to say, that, of the greatest number, I
was myself a witness ; and that, what I took upon
the credit of others, I most curiously investigated,
and anxiously sought, if by any possibility, a natu-
ral explanation of them could be found ; but in vain.
And assuredly I can aflirm, that the unaccountable
sounds alluded to were not made by the Seherin,
either in her waking or sleep -waking state, for the

192 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

purpose of deceiving and persuading the world of
the reality of her ghost-seeing, as has been fre-
quently suggested — which, indeed, she had no desire
to do. There are numerous other trustworthy wit-
nesses to the fact, that these sounds were not pro-
duced by Mrs. H , nor by any other person

whatever. Far from priding herself on her gift of
ghost-seeing, she looked upon it, as it was^ a great
misfortune ; and, had she been more willing to speak
on the subject, we should have many more examples
and particulars to record. She desired to convince
no one, for she did not believe that faith in these
things was necessary in a religious point of view,
and she thought no worse of any body for refusing
to credit them ; but her own conviction on the sub-
ject was so firm, that I have heard her say, that if
she could doubt the reality of these apparitions, she
should be in danger of insanity, for it would make
her doubt the reality of every thing she looked upon.
At the same time, she considered that, as she saw
the spirits through the medium of her bodily organs,
her spiritual eye might be troubled by her fleshly
one, and she might not therefore see them as they
actually were — or, on the other hand,, they might
only be able to make themselves visible to her under
certain conditions ; but she never for a moment ad-
mitted the possibility of their being mere visions, or
occular illusions.

^^ The influences of the spiritual world," says
Kant, in his dreams of a ghost-seer, *' may so far
preponderate in the consciousness of a man, that.

CONCERNING THE ANNEXED FACTS. 193

according to the law of the association of ideas,
images that are in relation to it may be raised, and
analogous conceptions be awakened in the mind,
which are not the spiritual idea itself, but its
symbols ; as our pure reason, which approaches to
the spiritual, commonly clothes itself in material
forms for the purpose of making itself understood.
The sensation of the presence of a spirit would,
through the imagination, array itself in such a human
form as is agreeable to our minds in life," &c. &c.

I often represented to the Seherin the theory
which considers these apparitions as mere pheno-
mena of the magnetic state and imagination, which,
by the physical-magnetic operation of the somnam-
bule, may be communicated to a second or a third
person ; as, by the organic-magnetic operation, the
somnambulism of a somnambule may be thus trans-
ferred. But she maintained that, even if this trans-
ference were proved, it would imply nothing more
than that these other persons were brought into a
magnetic relation with her, and with every thing with
which she was herself in relation, (rapport^) as she
certainly was with the spirits ; but that this would
by no means prove that they were the offspring of
her imagination; besides, she alleged the instances
in which persons, who were certainly not en rapport
with her, and who had never heard of her ghost-
seeing, had seen them in the very same places.

In short, I never failed to enforce upon her mind
the possibility of self-deception, nor to lay before
her the various theories that account for these things

194 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

on natural principles, but her conviction was never
shaken.

And we must remember how often these pheno-
mena were attended by audible and sensible signs —
how often articles were visibly moved, or thrown,
without any visible agent — and how frequently, as
she alleged, other persons saw apparitions in places
where she had seen them, although neither party
knew what had occurred to the other ; neither must
we forget the many similar and corroborating his-
tories on record, a few of which will be hereafter
mentioned. The most remarkable amongst these
undoubtedly go to confirm what our Seherin asserted
— namely, the existence of a world of spectres
amongst us. But this is a subject that, even when
our secret presentiments incline us to believe, our
pride, and fear of ridicule, will not allow us to in-
vestigate ; and I well know that it is not from the
present, but a future age, that I must expect cre-
dence and attention. These revelations, of what
awaits the sensual and worldly mind, will be too
unwelcome to have a chance of acceptance ; and I
am conscious to what scorn I subject myself by
making them ; but I fear it not ; and I conclude
by praying that mankind may see their own fate
mirrored in the piteous countenances of those un-
happy spirits, who, with all the burden of their
vices and crimes upon their backs, force themselves
into our sphere, and learn to take warning ere it is
too late.

OCCURRENCES AT OBERSTENFELD. 195

FACT3.

TWO FACTS THAT OCCURRED AT OBERSTENFELD.

The house inhabited by Mrs. H 's father

formed part of the old cathedral. It had long been
observed, by the various tenants who lodged in it,
that many strange noises were heard— as knock-
ings on the walls and barrels in the cellars, throwing
of gravel, rolling of balls, and even some times a
musical sound like that of a triangle — none of which

could be accounted for ; and at length Mrs. H ,

and other members of her family, occasionally per-
ceived a spectral female figure. Sounds, as of per-
sons passing to and fro, were common in the room
in which her father worked ; and he was actually
obliged to change his apartment, because an un-
known animal frequently sat on his shoulder or his
foot. A noise like the ringing of glasses was also
frequently heard, but no investigation threw any
light on the cause.

It was on New- Year's night, 1825, that as Mrs.

H was playing and singing a hymn, a noise

was heard in the hall as of the fall of a heavy weight.
An immediate search was made to discover the cause
but without success ; and the subject being forgotten,

196 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

Mrs. H retired, with her sister and maid-
servant, to bed. They had been in bed about a
quarter of an hour, and were still awake, when they
observed the night-candlestick, which was burning
on a table in the middle of the room, begin to move
about, so that they not only saw the motion, but
heard it, although the table, and every thing else,

stood fast. Whilst Mrs. H was observing this,

there appeared by her bedside a cloudy form, habited
like a knight, so thin, that she fancied she could see
through it, and said to her — " Go with me ; thou
canst loosen my bonds." On this occasion, as on all
others,, the voice of the spirit was not like the voice
of a man, but the words seemed to be breathed forth.
She answered — " I will not go with thee ;" and,
overcome with terror, she sprang into the bed where
her sister and the maid lay, crying — " Do you not
see something?" They said they did not; and she
said no more for fear of alarming them. She sent
the maid to lie in her bed, which was in front of
her sister s, and the maid, taking some of the bed-
covering with her, it was forcibly pulled from her
by an unseen hand. After that, they slept quietly
the rest of the night.

On the following night, at the desire of his pa-
rents, her brother, a courageous man, slept in the
room with her on a couple of chairs, lest the appa-
rition should return. Exactly at twelve o'clock,
after the light had been moved audibly and visibly
to all, the spectre appeared. She cried — " There it
is again ! " But though her brother and all saw the

OCCURRENCES AT OBERSTENFELD. 1 97

light moving, they saw no spectre. It nevertheless
stood by her bedside, and she distinctly perceived it
was the form of a knight. He appeared about fifty
years of age, and the countenance was angry. Then,
even visibly to the eyes of the brother, her bedstead,
and that of her sister, began to shake ; and the
spirit breathed forth to her — " If thou goest not
with me, I will fling thee out of the window."
She said — " In the name of Jesus, do it;" whereon
the form disappeared, but presently returned, say-
ing— ^' I will cast thee into the deep cellar." She
made the same answer; whereon it again vanished^
but returned a third time, threatening to stab her ;
but, on her saying, '^ Thou hast not the power to do
it," it disappeared, and returned no more for three
nights.

On the third night it appeared again by her bed-
side, and said — " You must go with me. I have
concealed some thing under the sand-box ; there is
some writing and a few coins. This I must give
you, and then I shall have rest." She said — " I will
not go with you ; this thing cannot make you
happy." The figure then disappeared. This event
affected her much, and she became so ill that she
could not leave her bed. Her parents hereupon re-
moved her to an upper room, where they had slept
themselves, in hopes she might be no further mo-
lested ; but, on the contrary, the spectre appeared
to her for seven days, at all hours of the day and
night — both when she was in the somnambulic state,
and when she was awake. He told her that he was

198 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

of the family of the Weilers of Litchenberg, and that
he had murdered his brother; hence his unhappy
state. He frequently told her that there was some-
thing of importance in a certain vault under the
church ; but she always answered him with the
word of God, and prayers. She prayed earnestly
with him^ at which times she saw him kneel ; and
she brought him by degrees from the vain idea that
the writing he sought could afford him comfort.
The first three nights that he came to the upper
room, her parents heard a noise at the window, and
a pane sprung out just before he appeared. On the
seventh night, he came just at midnight, when she
was quite awake, and thanked her for having led
him to his Redeemer ; telling her that the hour of
his release approached. He knelt by her bedside,
and prayed with her for the last time ; and his form
was now much brighter and more pleasing. Sud-
denly seven children appeared, white, bright, and
joyful ; they were his children, and they formed a
circle round him, and sang melodiously ; the spirit
sang with them, as did also Mrs. H , who here-
upon fell asleep, continuing still to sing. Presently
she awoke again, and conversed further with the
spectre. He wished to make a mark on her hand,
but she would not give it him ; and he did not leave
her till her protecting spirit^ her grandmother, stept
in between him and her ; then he took two of his
children by the hand, and all disappeared. She long
remembered this spectre with a mingled feeling of
joy and melancholy.

OCCURRENCES AT OBERSTENFELD. 199

At that time, being in a somnambulic state, Mrs.

H was accustomed to say her prayers alone in

a deserted kitchen. As she was kneeling there one
morning about nine o'clock, there appeared before
her a short figure, with a dark cowl and an old-look-
ing wrinkled face ; the head hung forwards, and it
looked for some minutes steadfastly on her, as she
did on it ; but, being seized with fear, she fled to
the upper rooms, where her friends were, saying-
nothing, however, of what she had seen. But it
appeared again before her as she was praying another
day, and said — " I come to thee, that I may learn
to know my Redeemer." For a whole year from
that time, this spectre was wont to appear to her at
different times of the day, whether she were asleep
or awake ; but he came invariably at seven o'clock
in the evening, and begged her to pray with him.
He said — " You must deal with me as a child, and
instruct me in religion from the commencement."
He told her that the burden of murder, and of other
crimes, lay upon him, and that he had wandered for
many years without being able to address himself to
prayer. She instructed him as she would have done
a child; and, by degrees, his form became more
bright and cheerful. His appearance was always
preceeded by knockings on the walls, noises in the
air, and other sounds, which were heard by many

200 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

different people, as can be testified by more than
twenty credible witnesses.

There was a trampling up and down stairs by
day and night to be heard, but no one to be seen^ as
well as knockings on the walls and in the cellars ;
but, however suddenly a person flew to the place
to try and detect whence the noise proceeded, they
could see nothing. If they went outside, the knock-
ing was immediately heard inside, and vice versa.
However securely they closed the kitchen door —
nay, if they tied it with cords — it was found open
in the morning ; and though they frequently rushed
to the spot on hearing it open or shut, they never
could find anybody. Sounds, as of breaking wood,
of pewter plates being knocked together, and the
crackling of a fire in the oven, were also commonly
heard, but the cause of them could not be discovered.
A sound resembling that of a triangle was also fre-
quently heard; and not only Mrs. H , but

others of her family, often saw a spectral female
form.

The noises in the house became at length so re-
markable, that her father declared he could stay in
it no longer ; and they were not only audible to
every body in it, but to the passengers in the street,
who stopped to listen to them as they passed. Mrs.

H- said in her sleep, that the evil spirits wished

to impede the one with whom she prayed, that he
might not sever himself from them. One night after
this unusual noise, the spectre appeared to her with
a dark and angry aspect ; she fled, and fell on the

OCCURRENCES AT OBERSTENPELD. 201

threshold of the door, and tried to rise, but could
not ; then she felt a hand on her right arm^ and per-
ceived a female form, who raised her from the
ground. On the following day, when she was
nearly falling from a false step on the stairs^ the
same form saved her. She was then quite awake.
In the evening, the spectre appeared and thanked
her for praying with him. Once he appeared in
company with a female form, who appeared tall and
wasted, and held a new-born child in her arms.

This figure, whom Mrs. H recognized as the

one often seen by the family, knelt and prayed with
him.

The spectre would appear to her even in the fields.
Thus, as she was once returning from Bottwar with
her parents, and another time from Gronau, it came
to her as the clock struck seven, and hovered before
her ; whilst she rather flew than run ; so that those
with her could not follow, nor could they see her
feet touch the earth. The spectre preceded her all
the way till they reached the kitchen, where she
knelt and prayed with it ; after which it would speak
with her — sometimes saying, " Now a sun rises with-
in me, or shines in me.*'

She once asked him, if he could hear other people
speak as well as her. He answered, " I hear them
through you. When you hear others, you think
what they speak ; and I read your thoughts." On
asking him why he made these noises ; he said, it was
to make men think of him, which afforded him con-
solation and refreshment. Whenever she played on

202 THE SEERE6S OF PREVORST.

the pianoforte and sang, the spirit always began to
knock on the wall — especially when she sang " How
great is thy goodness/'

Of the inhabitants of the house, none saw the
ghost except her father, brother, and youngest sister,
who saw it frequently. It sometimes appeared in

the form of a silver serpent. Mrs. H 's mother

never saw the spectre, but she felt it breathing on
her, as did the elder sister. It accompanied Mrs.
H — — to the sacrament, and said " You have taken
it for me." A forester, named Bbheim, who could
not believe in the reality of this spectre, placed him-
self by Mrs. H 's bedside, at the hour it usually

appeared. He had been there a few minutes, when
the knocking was heard, and presently a heavy
sound, as of a fall — Boheim had fainted. When he
came to himself, he related, that immediately after
the knocking, he saw a greyish cloud standing in the
corner of the wall, which gradually approached the
bed, and took on the form and features of a man ;
and, as it placed itself in the way of the door, he
could not get out of the room. When others en-
tered to his assistance, he wondered how they could
have run against the spectre without perceiving iL
A black terrier that was in the house was always
aware of the presence of the spirit, and crept howl-
ing to his masters ; neither would he lie alone at
night. Articles were often moved by an unseen
Land — glasses and bottles taken from the table, and
placed on the floor — and also papers in her father's
study ; and sometimes they would be flung after him.

OCCURRENCES AT OBBRSTENFELD. 203

In November 1825, when Mrs. H went to

Kiirnbach, the spectre went there also. He said,
'^ Where you are, I must be ; but I shall soon be
more at rest. It is painful for me to go with you."
Every night, from eleven to twelve o'clock, she in-
structed him in religion like a child. Once he said
to her, " I shall not come to you for seven days ;
for your protecting spirit is absent on an urgent
affair, which is occurring in your family — and of
which you will hear on Wednesday — and without
her you could not endure me." In the morning she
related what the spectre had said ; and, on the Wed-
nesday, there arrived a letter, to say that her grand-
father, (the husband of her protecting spirit,) whom
nobody suspected to be ill, was dead. When the
seven days had elapsed, the spectre reappeared ; and,
on her asking him why her protectress had left her,
he said, '^ she was engaged with the dying man."
This will bring to mind the dream the grandfather
had, seven days before his death. The spectre said,
" I am now so far advanced, that I saw the dead
man pass through a beautiful valley ; I shall soon
be admitted into a beautiful valley myself." Whilst
she was in Kiirnbach, the spectre was still heard
knocking at Oberstenfeld — but early; at one, two,
or three o'clock in the morning — after he had been
engaged with her at Kiirnbach.

When she went from Kiirnbach to Lowenstein, it
still accompanied her, hovering beside the carriage ;
and there the sounds it made were heard by many
people. But, as the spectre became brighter, these

204 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

became less audible ; and, on the 6th January 1826^
he appeared to her for the last time. On the pre-
vious evening he had said, " I shall soon visit you
for the last time/' The 6th was the baptismal day
of her child ; and, having thanked her for the inte-
rest she had taken in him, he requested that, at the
baptism, a certain hymn might be sung, to help him
to his rest. On account of the strangers present,
this was deferred ; and whilst the company were at

luncheon — Mrs. H* being, with her maid, in her

own chamber — the door was opened, and then shut

again. Her maid was surprised, but Mrs. H

did not tell her the cause. The spectre, however,
entered, and reminded her of his request ; whereon
she sent for her mother, and told her what had hap-
pened ; but the mother still wished to defer it till
the company were gone. But when two hours had
elapsed, the door again opened and shut, visibly and
audibly ; and the spectre, placing himself before her,
said, in a complaining voice, " It is now full time

the hymn were sung.'' Mrs. H-- again spoke to

her mother, who thereon informed the company of
what had happened, and they immediately prepared
to sing the hymn. One of the party sat down to
the pianoforte ; and, whilst they sang, the father of

Mrs. H saw the spectre near the player, with a

bright, joy<^iis aspect. He was affected at the sight,
and went into tlie next room ; and there he saw the
tall, female spectre, looking very sad, with an infant
in her arms. During the singing of the hymn, Mrs.
H lay dissolved in tears.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 205

By her direction, a certain spot in the court-yard,
near that kitchen, was dug up, and they there found
the bones of a small child.

During the time she was at Lowenstein, at her
uncle's, (at the same period that this second spectre
appeared to her there,) she every night saw an elderly
man, in a long waistcoat and pointed cap, with a
bundle of papers under his arm, come from the inner
room into the outer, where she sat. He turned the
papers over, from the first leaf to the last, and then
returned whence he came. She saw him very often,
but he never spoke to her, nor she to him. This
spectre was, at a later period, partly seen and partly
heard by other people, and the fact of his appearance
confirmed.

FACTS WHICH OCCURRED AT WEINSBERG.

Mrs. H came to Weinsberg on 25th Novem-
ber 1826. She knew no one there — not even me —
and was lodged in a small room, on the ground-floor,
next to the house, and over the wine-vaults of

Mr. F ; of which, however, she knew nothing.

Mr. F was an entire stranger to her, and was

not aware of her lodging there ; and the following
circumstances he only learned ultimately through

me. It is possible that Mrs. H may have heard,

that a certain K had conducted Mrs. F 's

afiairs in a very prejudicial manner ; but, if so, she

206 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

had no recollection of it. This man had been dead
some years ; she had never seen him ; nor had she
any connexion with anybody concerned with his or

Mr. F 's afiairs, of which the public had ceased

to talk.

On the first evening, when she fell into her natu-
ral magnetic trance, before I had magnetized her at
all, she said that there was a man near her, with a
very piteous countenance, who seemed to desire
something of her, but she could not understand
what. On the 24th December, being in the mag-
netic sleep, she said, " That man is here again ; he
comes up from the vaults below, at the hour of my
sleep. Oh ! that he would stay away ; for he dis-
turbs my sleep, and I cannot help him. I can point
out where he sits in the vault ; it is behind the fourth
barrel, and he leaves the place at the hour of my
sleep. Ah ! how his right eye squints ! He steps
forward. Oh, do not ! I cannot help you. Does
no one see him but me ? He keeps nodding to me,
and wishes to tell me something."

On the 25th — on which day, for the first time,

Mr. F was present, for I believed the spectre

to have been that of a relation of his — she said,
" He is there again, and disturbs me in my sleep.
"What is it he is shewing me ? A sheet of figures,
not quite so large as a folio. The upper right-corner
is turned down ; in the left there is a number. Under
the first row of figures, I see an 8 and a 0. I can-
I not read more ; it begins with a J. This paper
I lies under many others, and is not observed. He

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 207

wishes me to tell my physician, and thus give notice
of it. Why will he so torment me ? Can he not
tell his wife of it ? He wished to have told it be-
fore his death, but did not expect to die so soon ;
and, dying so, it accompanied his soul, like a piece
of his body." It is quite true that the person died
unexpectedly ; for she described the figure so exactly,
from the squinting eye, that I recognized it to be

the deceased K . She said, " I must away

from him ; I can bear him no more to-day."

On the 26 th, being in a deep magnetic sleep, she
tried to find the place where this paper was. She
said, " It lies in a building, which is sixty paces
from my bed. (We must here observe, that Mrs.

H had never seen this building.) In this I see

a large and a smaller room. In the latter sits a tall
gentleman, at a table, and works. Now he goes out,
and now he returns. Beyond these rooms, there is
one still larger, in which are some chests, and a long
table. There is one long chest, and one stands in
the entrance, the door of which is open. But these
chests do not concern this man. But on the table
there is a wooden thing — I cannot name it — and on
this lie three heaps of paper ; and in the middle one,
a little below the centre, lies the sheet that so tor-
ments him."

I recognized the building to be the office of the
High Bailiff" ; and, believing what Mrs. H de-
scribed to be merely a vision, I went to him, and
requested him to let us search the papers, that so we
might undeceive her.

208 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

The High Bailiff, who equally looked upon the
whole as a dream^ said that she was, however, right
in saying that he was at work at that time ; and that
it was true he had gone into the next room, and he
had observed the lid of the chest open. But, al-
though struck with this coincidence, we were con-
firmed in our notion of the whole being a dream,
when, on searching the papers — too hastily, perhaps

— which lay, indeed, as Mrs. H had described

them, we could not find the one we sought. I, how-
ever, requested the High Bailiff to come and be a

witness to the thing himself, when next Mrs. H

slept. After prescribing for herself, she again spoke
of the man, whom she called " the man that sits
behind the fourth barrel ;" where, she said, she saw
him every night. She blamed me for not seeking
the paper more carefully, and besought me to do it ;
and she described more particularly where it lay,
and added, that it was folded in strong brown paper.
I declared there was no such thing, and that the
whole was a dream ; but she calmly answered, that
the paper must, and would be found.

In order to quiet her, when she recurred to the
subject in her evening sleep, I — who did not, at this
time, understand Mrs. H 's character, and be-
lieved the whole to be a dream — gave her a sheet of
paper, on which were several numbers, and, at the
bottom, the number 80 ; and I told her that that was
what she wanted. But she said, " No ; that paper
is still in its place, and the figures on it are much
more regularly placed than these are."

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 209

On the Slst, she said, " The man behind the bar-
rel threatens to disturb me in heaven, if I will not
find the paper ; but he cannot do that. He has died i
with this thought upon him ; it binds him to earth, j
and leaves him no peace. If the paper was found, !
he might, by prayer, obtain salvation. For God's j
sake, seek it ! Were I able to walk, it would soon (
be found." She was still much agitated when she J
awoke, and it was plain that this disturbance of her 1
sleep was affecting her health, and throwing her i
back. In consequence of this, I went once more to ;
the High Bailiff, and begged him to let us have an-
other search ; and then, indeed, exactly enclosed as

Mrs. H had described, we found a sheet of

paper, corresponding precisely with her directions,
even to the turning down of the corner; which, I
confess, gave me a shudder when I saw it, for it ap-
peared to have been done long ago. This paper

contained the only proof extant that Mr. K

had kept a private account-book, which, after his
death, could not be found ; and which, it was said,
his widow denied all knowledge of.

The Bailiff and I agreed to say nothing of the
finding of this paper, and he promised to be present
at the evening sleep ; and though I did not request
him to do it, I concluded he would bring the paper ^
with him, to shew her. He came ; and, as usual,
she returned to the subject, saying, " There he stands
again, but he looks calmer — the paper must be found ; /
fetch it." I said, (believing it to be in the Bailiff's /
pocket,) " If it be found, where is it?" Thereupon)

210 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

she fell into a sort of cataleptic state, looking like
one already dead, but glorified — so bright were her
features. Presently she said, " The papers are no
longer there ; but, ah ! — that is surprising ! — the one
the man has always in his hand lies there open.
Now I can read more — ' To be carried into my private
book/ Ah ! that is the line he always points to — he
wishes to direct attention to that book. What is now
to be done with this paper? — Ah, I shudder to think
what that poor woman will do. Let her be warned ;
then he will get rest, and be allowed to approach his
Redeemer." These words, as he afterwards told me,
astonished the Bailiff; for, as an experiment, he had
placed the paper just as she described.

On the 1st January she said, the man wished his
wife to be advised to do something, or she would be
more unhappy than he was ; and she spoke of writ-
ing to her herself.

When I came to her on the 2d, she being quite
awake — in which state she knew nothing of this
subject — she said to me, ^^ Last night I had a great
fright. At nine o'clock I asked for something to
eat ; my maid gave it me, and then went to bed, and
to sleep. I, however, remained awake ; when, all at
once, I heard a sound by my bedside, like writing ;
and, when I looked, I saw a man sitting at the table,
writing in a book. I was alarmed, and, shutting my
eyes, did not venture to open them again till I fell
asleep."

In her next magnetic sleep, I asked her if this had
not been a dream ; but she said, '' No, it was that

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 211

dead man ; he wished, by means of that book, to
direct attention to his private book. He had on a
white woollen dress and slippers, such as he was
wont to wear when he wrote in that book. He
wishes me to warn his wife ; but it will cost me much
trouble to find the book, and I shall fall back in my
health for seven days." As, both on account of the

family of this man, and on account of Mrs. H 'a

health, I disliked this business, I put her into deeper
sleep, and besought her to leave the matter alone,
and think of her own recovery ; but she said, this
warning was put upon her by the dead man as a
duty, and what was to become of her if she did not
do it ?

On the 3d January, being quite awake, she said to
me, " To-day, at three o'clock, that man came again.
The door opened perceptibly, and he entered, and
again seated himself at the table to write. He had
on a loose white coat, a white cap, and slippers.

A woman, who slept in the room with Mrs. H ,

declared she was awakened by the shutting of the
door ; whereupon she looked up, and saw a form,
like a grey cloud, move towards the table. She

called to Mrs. H , who did not answer ; so,

being frightened, she hid her head under the clothes.

On that day, Mrs. H dictated the following

letter to her sister, whilst she was asleep : —

" I must write to this unfortunate, innocent wo-
man, and say, ' Your deceased husband appears to
me every evening, and shews me a paper which lies

2 I 2 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

in the High Bailiff's office ; and he points to the
words, ' Carried into the private book/ From the
other world this departed soul bids me warn you,
lest you should forswear yourself. For the sake of
your Redeemer, and your husband, hide nothing in
your heart which may torment you hereafter. Be
not offended with me ; I am innocent of this — I
know nothing of it when I am awake. I never saw
either you or your husband ; nor did I ever hear of
this affair, till he came to me, and bade me seek the
paper, because this thought kept him from his rest.
Do now what your conscience bids you. God be
gracious to you, and your family, and keep you
guiltless.' "

Mrs. H would not rest till this letter was

delivered ; so we sent it, saying, that we looked on
the whole as the illusion of a diseased person, but

advised her to speak to Mrs. H when she was

asleep, which the latter much desired ; and to this
the lady consented.

In the evening, before she fell asleep, I wrote her
some lines, to the following purpose :

If, when this woman comes, we find
She's innocent in deed and mind,

And weeps to be thought guilty ;
Will you not grieve, for having said
Her husband cannot rest, when dead ?

On reading this, she said, " Is any weeping wo-
man coming here ? " and afterwards, being asleep,
she wrote with closed eyes —

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 213

Whether it grieves my heart or not.
My spirit must speak boldly out,
And warn the weeper, ere too late,
What will be her future fate.

Accordingly, Mrs. K^ came in the evening.

with the magistrate P ; and when I had mag-
netized Mrs. H , she asked me — being asleep —

on what I was thinking when I made the passes, as
she felt an unusual intensity in me. I answered,
'^ I'm thinking on the widow of that deceased man,
who is now here to speak with you.'* She said she
was glad of it ; and then, after prescribing, as usual,
for herself, she turned to her, and said calmly, ^' Of
what I now say to you, I bodily know nothing — it
is my spirit that speaks ; and did I know this when
I am awake, it would kill me. Listen ! I know
neither you nor your husband — I am a stranger here ;
but, ever since I have slept over these vaults, your
husband has appeared to me nightly, bidding me
seek a paper, and also warn you not to carry an
earthly thought above with you, or do what may
make you more unhappy than he is. The paper is
found — you are apprized of it — ^and he looks calmer."

Mrs. K assured us that she would take no

such thought above — that her husband never commu-
nicated his affairs to her — that she knew of no private
book — and that no oath concerning it had been re-
quired of her. Mrs. H told her that that

would happen yet ; and asked whether she would
search for the book. After this, she lay for an un-
usual time in a cold, deathlike state, out of which I

214 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

drew her with difficulty, by passes ; she then prayed

earnestly with Mrs. K , who left her much

affected.

The singleness and truth of this story none can
appreciate, but those who observed the progress of
the affair from the commencement, or who are ac-
quainted with the parties concerned, especially Mrs.
H ; but, as for those who have had such oppor-
tunities of judging, and yet talk of deception, it can
only be from malice.

" Attempts were made, as is always the case, to
explain the above circumstances by natural and ordi-
nary causes ; but I, who had the best means of
knowing the circumstances, must not only maintain
my own opinion, but I must beg leave to support it
by the statement of the High Bailiff, which he drew
up for the satisfaction of his friends.

'' Mrs. H came here, a stranger, to seek the

advice of Dr. K , and engaged a lodging next

door to the warehouses of Mr. F , whose affairs,

some time before, had been conducted by a Mr. K ,

so unsatisfactorily, that F remained a loser of

1000 florins; for the recovery of which certain pro-
ceedings followed against the widow and children of

K , especially for the giving up of a private

book, alluded to in a certain paper. These cir-
cumstances were, however, quite unknown to Mrs.

H ." (Here follows a relation of the above

affair, which it is needless to repeat ; the Bailiff as-
serting positively, that no one but himself knew

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 215

that he had opened and spread out the paper before

he came to Mrs. H . He then proceeds to say,)

^' By those who are determined to believe the whole

of these circumstances a mere contrivance of F

to frighten K 's widow, I ask, how can they ac-
count for Mrs. H *s describing me at work in

the office, at a time that was quite unusual ; or for
her mention of the open chest, &c. in a room, where,
I am sure, none but myself and my people had been
for a week ; and lastly, for her knowledge of the
turned-down corner of a paper, that had not been
seen for several years ?

" High-Bailiff Heyd."

I must here repeat, that Mr. F knew nothing

of Mrs. H , and only went to see her at my

request, in consequence of this affair, to which he
listened with great surprise; and that he never
visited her but twice afterwards, and then it was
for the purpose of assisting at some experiments, to
ascertain the effect of grapes.

With regard to the foregoing story, Eschenmayer
thus speaks : —

" Mrs. H , not having long been in Weins-

berg, and a stranger to the place and its inhabitants,
and even to her own physician, sees a deceased per-
son holding a paper in his hand, which she describes ;
and he tells her where it is, and says that it must be
found before he can have rest. She relates this, and
describes the man so accurately, that he is fully re-
cognized. To procure rest for this spirit, she en-

216 THE SEERESS OF PREVORSf.

treats her physician to find the paper — pointing out
exactly where it lies, together with all the particulars
regarding the room it is in ; the whole of which turns
out to be correct. The physician, who believes all
this to be delusion, seeks the paper in the place
named, but does not find it ; although the owner of
the house admits that every thing was correctly de-
scribed. He tells her he cannot find it ; but she
complains of his indifference, and urges him to seek
it again, giving him further indications. He does
so^ and finds it exactly where she said it was, and
where it had been for six years. She is not told
that the paper is found ; yet she next sees the spectre
looking more content, a.nd concludes that it is so.
She then tries to find again where it is, and describes
it exactly as the High Bailiff himself had placed it.
The solution of this tale is in these words — ^ Ah 1
what now is to be done with this paper ? Ah ! I
shudder to think what that poor woman may do, if
she be not warned. She must be warned ; then he
will have peace, and, by prayer, may be reconciled
to his Redeemer.' "

The paper made known the existence of a secret
book, which had been lost sight of. The widow was
in danger of being called on to produce it, upon
oath ; and here was a warning, to prevent her doing
what might have caused her deeper woe than her
husband was suffering. Here was a moral end ob-
tained by. the appearance of the spectre.

Mrs. H had no acquaintance in Weinsberg —

still less did she know any one who had any interest

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 21?

in the finding of this paper. Indeed, nobody had

but Mr. F ^ ; and him she never saw, till Dr.

Kerner brought him to her, after she had spoken of
the apparition. And with what justice can the op-
ponents so malign the character of the Seherin ? for,
since these circumstances cannot be accounted for by
self-deception — to deny them, is to arraign her mo-
rality and truth. It is also remarkable, that every
thing delivered by clairvoyants, in the third or highest
degree, tends eminently to the promotion of morality
and religion ; and how shall we reconcile all that
she says on this subject with deliberate imposition ?
Those who malign her, forget that a slanderer is as
bad as a deceiver. How can they believe that one,
whose life was a series of sufferings and trials — who
foresaw her own approaching death — and who de-
clared so explicitly the punishment that awaited
deceivers beyond the grave — would pass her life in
carrying on a system of fraud ? Those at a distance
cannot be fair judges in this case ; of which, all we
can offer is but a faint sketch. To feel the intuitive
conviction of truth that she inspired in all around
her, a person must have seen her in all her various .
conditions. The brightness or glory in which her
friends so often saw her, was beyond human pretence :
" If the devil can," as St. Paul says, " assume the
appearance of an angel, man cannot." It has long
been clear to me that such apparitions are permitted,
in order to shew the worldly-minded their helpless-
ness, and the iusufiiciency of those natural laws, to
which they cling like a worm to its clod. Assuredly,

218 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

nature is nothing but the foundation for the spirit,
by which it is to reach the regions of eternal free-
dom, elevated far above all natural laws. This king-
dom of freedom extends through the whole spiritu-
ality of the universe, and man is but a link added
on to the chain; and this truth being despised,
and forgotten, and overwhelmed, by the understand-
ings of the world — these contemned instruments are
sent to confound them.

Mr. F says — " Although I had no belief in

apparitions, and was very suspicious with regard to
somnambules^ on this occasion my own eyes and ears

convinced me there was no deception. Mrs. H

was an entire stranger here ; she took the lodging
from my tenant unknown to me ; and the people
that were about her knew nothing of the history of

K , and had no interest in it whatever. The

affair, which happened seven years before, had long
ceased to be talked of, and the matter had become
so indifferent to me, that, when the paper was
spoken of, I had at first some difficulty in bringing
it to mind. I had never mentioned a word about it
to anybody whatever ; and no one but the magis-
trate had ever heard of it, neither had there been
any threat of calling for its production. I am
thoroughly satisfied that the Seherin had no informa-
tion on the. subject ; the more so, that nobody but
myself had any interest in the matter. However
incomprehensible these circumstances may be, I am
convinced that they cannot be disproved.

" What I here affirm is the simple truth, which

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 219

can be verified by official papers ; and every body is
at liberty to make what use they please of my decla-
ration.

^' Finance Minister Fezer/'*

SECOND FACT.

It has been mentioned that Mrs. H and her

family frequently heard a sound resembling a
triangle, and, about the same period, saw a female
form, which latterly appeared with a child in her
arms, and with a melancholy aspect. The following
apparition seems to have some connexion with
this circumstance : On the 6th October 1827, as I

and other persons were in Mrs. H 's chamber,

the door opened and then closed ; but although we
immediately searched, we saw nobody who could
have done this ; and it is unnecessary to observe,
that, though a door may open of itself, it will not
shut again without there be a draught, or some im-
pulse given to it. Presently afterwards we heard a
sweet metallic sound in the air of the room we were
in, which lasted some minutes, but nothing was to be

seen. On the following morning, Mrs. H being

in her room with only one person, the same sound
was heard, and presently after she saw a female
form at the door which led from the ante-room into

* The early part of this declaration consists of some particu-
lars regarding Mr. F 's connexion with K , and the de-
falcation of the latter, which we have not thought necessary
to insert. — Translator.

220 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST*

her chamber. The figure was tall and thin, not old,
and attired in a brown robe, which had many folds ;
on her head was the veil which the female spectres
always appeared in. On the 11th the same thing
recurred after the triangle had been heard, or, at

least, a sound which resembled one ; and Mrs. H

heard the figure say distinctly — " Who sits in dark-
ness, as I do, endures great torment." On the next
day it came again, and advanced farther into the
room, but said nothing.

On the night between the 15th and 16th, Mrs.

H was awakened by this figure standing by

her bedside, and saying — " I would be happy, and
I know I can only become so through my Redeemer.

How can I approach Him ? " Mrs. H answered

— " Through earnest and continual prayer for grace
and forgiveness;'* whereupon the female disappear-
ed. On the night of the 31st she came again at one
o'clock, saying — " Will you pray with me ? " and

Mrs. H now recognized her as the spectre she

had seen at Oberstenfeld with a child in her arms,
and sometimes accompanied by a man. She became
alarmed, and said — " Pray for yourself, I cannot pray
with you," &c. &c. ; whereon the spectre looked
sad, and departed. On the night of the 1st November
she came again, and asked some questions which
had reference to the spectre with whom she had ap-
peared at Oberstenfeld, but in the morning Mrs.

H had forgotten what it was. On the night of

the 27th, the spectre returned, and again asked her
to pray with her, which Mrs. H — — refused ; when

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 221

I asked her why, she said that she did not think the
spirit was in a state which could make her prayers
available, and that she was afraid of her, and it
would make her ill.

On the 30th November, at seven o'clock, as her
family were sitting at Oberstenfeld, her brother saw
this same spectre, whom he had often seen before,
pass through the door of the room. On the night of
the 4th, she came again, with her arms crossed on
her breast, and looked silently and sadly at Mrs,

H . On her appearing some nights after, Mrs.

H 's child saw her. and at first laughed, pointing

to her as to somebody he knew, but immediately
after he laid himself back on the shoulder of the
person who carried him, as if afraid. It appeared
that he remembered having seen her at Oberstenfeld.

On the night of the 13th, the spirit came again,
but clothed in a white robe ; and she said — " The
time is come for me to know that Jesus Christ was

really the Son of God," &c. &c. Mrs. H said

— " What time is this ? " She answered — " It is
the time when we see the happy spirits keep their
festival. I know that man can only be saved
through God's mercy. Pray for the strengthening of

my faith." Mrs. H prayed with her earnestly ;

after which^ she appeared to her no more.

Four years after this had happened, and two years
after Mrs. H 's death, the following circum-
stance occurred at Oberstenfeld, which may serve as
some proof of the reality of the spectres seen by Mrs,

222 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

H , and that they were not subjective, but ob-
jective— at least to those who are not determined to
reject these facts altogether, because they are con-
trary to their notions of God and the world. Some

years after Mrs. H had quitted Oberstenfeld,

the magistrate PfaflBien came there, and purchased
one of the old cathedral houses, which he rebuilt.
Under the cathedral was a cellar, of which he had
the use.

Before proceeding farther, we must mention that
Mr P. never saw the Seherin in his life — never
had read her history, nor heard of this instance
of her ghost-seeing ; and, before he went there, all
her family had left Oberstenfeld. He was thus
ignorant and unsuspicious of the whole affair. He
is a healthy man, enlightened and educated, no
hypocrite, and no believer in ghosts. The following
story, which he vouches for on his honour, should at
least make the doubter pause. It is easy to pro-
nounce on these things, with a pen in your hand, by
the fireside, but how few, for the love of truth, will
take the trouble to travel a few miles to see the
parties concerned, and investigate the facts. When
the Seherin was alive, and these things talked of,
did any of those, who now write volumes of refuta-
tion, ever take the trouble to come and see her, and
hear her, and examine her themselves ? No ; they
sat still at their desks, and yet consider themselves
better able to pronounce on these facts than the
calm, earnest, profound psychologist, Eschenmayer,
who examined everything on the spot, and in per-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 223

son, and thought nothing of taking a journey, in the
depth of winter, for the purpose. So only on such
subjects can truth be elicited. Learning and specu-
lation cannot supply the place of personal investiga-
tion. I return to my story —

" As I one day/' says Mr P., '' went into the
cellar under the cathedral, I heard a knocking
behind one of the barrels, so loud and distinct, that
concluding it was the cooper at work, I called to
him, but there was no answer ; whereon I sprang
behind the barrel, but could see no one there, nor in
any part of the cellar. I left the place without dis-
covering the mystery ; but I had no suspicion of any
supernatural cause, and least of all did I think of
spectres. I frequently went into the cellar after-
wards, but heard nothing, and had entirely forgot-
ten the circumstance, when last year (1830) at
Whitsuntide, I had occasion to go there just as the
sacrament was being administered in the cathedral
above. My thoughts were far enough from ghosts —
on the contrary, I was thinking of the sacrament,
and the words of the priest, which I could distinguish,
when, as I was passing from barrel to barrel, as my
business required, I beheld, with astonishment, a
female form in a white antique dress, spotted with
blood, with a veil on her head and a child in her
arms, coming towards me. She passed me, ascended
the cellar stairs, and, when half way up, paused as
if for me. I was in full possession of my senses, and
I followed her boldly, trying to summon courage to
speak ; but I could not, and she vanished through

224 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the stone wall of the vault. What I felt was not
so much terror, as amazement, especially at the
wondrous beauty of the child. I locked the cellar
door, and immediately afterwards, returning in com-
pany with my assistants, we searched every part "*of
the vaults, but could discover nothing. For the
three following days, though I went to the cellar, I
saw nothing; but, on the 4th, I saw the spectre
with the child as before, but, on this occasion, both
her veil and her robe were black. But now, instead
of surprise, as at first, I was overcome with horror.
I hastened above, and it was long before I recovered
the effects of a terror hitherto quite unknown to me.
Though I went to the cellar almost daily for a year
after this, I never saw the figure again." A rela-
tion of Mr. P., who frequently entered this cellar,
says, he never saw anything, but he frequently heard
footsteps near him, or preceding him.

This is the narrative of an honest, impartial man,
who is no somnambule, and who never knew the
Seherin. AVhen any second person saw the spectres

that appeared to Mrs. H , the unbelievers say

that their imaginations were infected by her ; but
what can they say when a man, who never saw her
nor heard of the circumstance, meets the same figure
years afterwards in the same place ? They will say
that, as the contagion of the plague hangs about a
place for years, so may that of this strange insanity,
especially in closed up cellars; and others more
learned will pretend, that the spectre was a nerve-
projected form, produced by the atmosphere and the

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 225

particular condition of Mr. P. at the moment; or
that even the nerve-projected form, which proceeded
from the Seherin some years before, may have passed
from her bed into the cellar^ and there be still
visible to a subtle seer, and they may account for
the knocking in the same manner; whilst a third
party will attribute the whole to Mr. P.'s excited
brain, who had doubtless heard that the cellar was
haunted by such a spectre^ and who saw it under
the influence of the new wine which he went there
to taste. But it must be remembered that Mr. P.
did not, the first time, believe it to be a spectre that
he saw, and that he felt neither fear nor horror till
he saw it a second time. But these are the refuges
of the wise and understanding, who will believe in
anything rather than in spectres^ whose existence
does not conform with the system of nature they
have established for themselves.

THIRD FACT.

In the night of the 20th July 1827, as Mrs.

H was lying in bed, having just drank some

water, the door opened and shut, and there entered
the figure of a man, about thirty years of age, in a
long open coat, with broad buttons, short hose, rolled
stockings, shoes with buckles, and a cravat, which
was fastened by a button, and had two long ends
hanging down. This is the ancient costume of a
peasant. He said — " You must come down with
me to my stable." She asked—'' Where is that ?"
p

226 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

and he answered — " Near the surveyor's — a large
old house." Then he went away and perceptibly
opened and shut the door. His complexion was
darkj and there was a clumsiness about him such as
is derived from a country life, and which it would
seem, through the nerve-spirit, continues after death.
On the evening of the 21st, at nine o'clock, there
was a continual dragging of Mrs. H 's bed-
clothes, perceptible to others^ as also the sound of
footsteps, and a noise as of a dog under the table.
At ten o'clock, the door opened and shut audibly ;

the peasant returned, looked silently at Mrs. H ,

and then, opening the door, went out.

On the evening of the 22d_, Mrs. H being

alone, the peasant-spectre entered by the open door,
accompanied by the form of a peasant girl. As they
approached her bed, she turned on the other side,
in order not to see them, and was attacked by vio-
lent convulsions. When she recovered, she described
to me what she had seen, adding that she knew not
why, but she had great pity of this female ; she was,
however, so much terrified, that she would not re-
main alone any more. On the 27th, at two p.m.,

as Mrs. H , who was standing at the window,

turned round, she saw these two figures standing
beside her ; and the man said- — " Now, come with
me immediately to my stable." She answered —
" For what purpose ? — What is there ? " Whereon
the female spectre replied—-" We have murdered a
child, and buried it in the stable, through which I
afterwards died. He has the blame ; " and, so say-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 22?

ing, she pointed to her companion. Mrs. H

would have asked more, but ibey disappeared. She
told me that the woman was of an ashy grey ; that
her head was covered in the same way as all the
female spectres^, and that she had on a coat and petti-
coat. The man had a cap on his head^ with a turned
up brim. On the Isl, they came again about mid-
day, and stept up to her bed-side ; he sighed heavily,
and they both looked very sad. On the 3d of
August, they came at eight in the morning, and
then, in a firm tone, she forbade them to come to
her any more. These apparitions occasioned her
more fear than any others. The girl who attended
her at that time, a sensible educated person, who
had not the faculty of ghost-seeing, was always con-
scious of a strange feeling of anxiety when these

spectres appeared, although Mrs. H never

mentioned them to her.

At two o'clock on the morning of the 3d, these

figures came again, and Mrs. H took courage to

ask them about che murder of the child ; then the
female answered, as if angry — " I took a poison to
kill the child, of which I was delivered in the stable,
and which he buried ; and I was found dead in a
neighbouring barn.'* As they again entreated her
to go to the stable, she bade them leave her, which
they did ; but came again on the night of the 6th,
when the female said — " Look on us, poor lost ones !
— Have pity on our sujQferings ! '' To which she
replied — " Turn to your Redeemer, he alone can
help you." Whereon they went away. On the

228 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

next night they appeared^ and the peasant said —
" You must go below to my stable ; there you must
dig two paces from the trough, where you will find
the bones of our child, which you must get buried in
the church-yard." She, however, bade them seek
their Redeemer, and pray ; and the same when they
appeared on the evening of the 8th.

About mid-night, on the 1 2th, when Mrs. H

was ill with a bad headach, caused by a high wind,
and just as the alarm-bell was ringing for a fire in
the neighbourhood — which, it is to be observed,
must have turned her thoughts quite in another di-
rection— these two spectres appeared again, the
female carrying in her arms a child wrapt in rags,
the head of which only was uncovered. This was
only the projected form of the crime, not the real
child, like the figure seen by Mr. P. at Obersten-
feld. The peasant said — " I, Nicholas Pfeffer,
am the seducer of this girl, and the murderer of
the child, so kneel and pray with us." She said —
" That I cannot do, having so bad a headach."
Whereon he answered — " Bind your head cross-
wise, and make three crosses on it with your middle
finger." On doing so, the pain left her, and she felt
only a stunning sensation. They then knelt, the
woman holding the child in her arms, and she prayed
with them for an hour. When they had done, the
man said — " Dig for the child;" and then they dis-
appeared. She told me that, by their countenances,
she saw how they were relieved by the prayers.
They came again on the 13th, and she prayed with

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 229

them ; and, on the 14th^ they came in company with
a very dark old man, who^ when they were about
to speak, stepped before them, and placed his hands

upon their mouths. Mrs. H became alarmed,

and was seized with convulsions. On the night of
the 15th, they came again, the old man standing
behind while they prayed. She asked who he
was, and they told her he was the man that had
furnished the means of killing the child.

On the night of the 2 1 st, at my desire, Mrs. H

inquired of the man whether he had lived in the
surveyors house or another^ and which stable he
alluded to. He answered, " Not in the surveyor s,
but in an old house near, with a stable on the right
hand. We buried the body two paces from the
trough, where it sinks down."

To her inquiry of who the old man was, he an-
swered, " He is an old magician, from a neighbouring
place. He gave me the herbs I used ; and, in his
sins, he would now prevent my confessing it." They
came again on the 17th, when she asked the female
her name. She sighed, but did not answer; and, to
her inquiry of when they would return, the man re-
plied, *' In seven days."

On the night of the 24th, there slept in Mrs.

H 's room, with the attendant, a very honest,

simple-minded, truthful young girl, who certainly

knew that Mrs. H was frequently visited by

spectres, but who knew no particulars of their ap-
pearance ; and still less, that the spectre of a peasant,
accompanied by a woman, had ever appeared to her.

230 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

With much amazement, she said to me in the morn-
ing, before she had spoken to Mrs. H : " I had

closed [he door^, and we were all in bed. I sleep
with the maid, whose bed is some paces from that of

Mrs. H . Aboui. one o'clock, I heard the door

open and shut, and saw two figures enier, and ap-
proach Mrs. H '& bed. They looked like human

beings, but I beard no footsteps. There were the
forms of a woman and a man. The woman looked
grey — the man dai'ker. Sbe had a child in her arms,
that also looked grey. The head and neck of the
child were bare — the remainder of it wrapt in rags ;
and the woman's arms were folded jound It. The
man was of a middling size, somewhat t>igger ihan
the woman ; and he had on a coat, and short hose.

They spoke, as also did Mrs. H . 1 heard them

both ; they had a smaller voice than ordinary beings,
but spoke distinctly ; though, in the morning, I could
not clearly remember what they had said. I was
not frightened, but I could not speak, and could not
take my eyes from the child. They were a long
time there : and when thev went awav, the door
clapt to with a noise." Then she related the history
of the huntsman's spectre, as it appears in the ac-
count of it. " These spectres,*' she said, ^' look to
me like human beings ; only the skin looks rough
and black, as if sprinkled with grains of sand."

Mrs. H confirmed the account given by the

girl ; and when I asked her if the skin appeared as
she had described, she said, " It appears so to her,
perhaps ; but it is not skin — it is the cloudy form.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 231

A cloud does not look smooth ; and probably she
sees the spectres darker than I do." She added, that
she never observed that they threw any shadow ; but
that, if they stept before the night-light, they inter-
cepted it.

These spectres came several times afterwards, but
their attire was now changed ; they wore bright
robes, and their forms were brighter also. On the
14th October, the spectre of the man said, " I shall
only come to you once more." It was on the 24th
that they came for the last time ; when they both
said, as if speaking with one mouth, " We come, for
the last time, to take leave of you ;" and, on Mrs.
H inquiring whither they were going, they re-
plied, " To a better place." They then vanished, and
she saw them no more.

The name of Pfeffer, which the spectre gave, is
not an uncommon one amongst the peasants, a few
miles from Weinsberg. I should very gladly have
pursued the search for the bones of the child ; but,
in the first place, the direction to the stable was not
very precise ; and, in the next, I feared the owner
of it, whoever he was, would have considered him-
self injured, by my setting afloat a report that his
stable was haunted; and I therefore forbore. In
the urgent request of the apparitions, we see a rem-
nant of earthly prejudice. They conjured her to
have the child buried in consecrated ground, till she
persuaded them that it was not necessary to their
salvation. There is much resemblance between this

232 THE SEERESS OP PREVORST.

story, and that of Professor Ehrmann of Strasburg,
related by Eschenmayer ; and which I here give,
with his permission.

'^ Some time since, Councillor Lindner of Konigs-
berg, died at Strasburg, after residing a long time at
Riga. Amongst his numerous intimate and scientific
friends, was Mr. Herrenschneider, teacher of the
Royal Academy in Strasburg, whom Mr. Lindner
visited shortly before his death. The father of the
latter was a pastor, in a small village in Pomerania,
and afterwards in Konigsberg. He kept a journal,
wherein he set down every thing worthy of note that
happened to him. This book, which also contained
matters of business, will be still in possession of his
family ; and in it, according to the Councillor, the
pastor, his father, narrates the following story, which
he, the Councillor, circumstantially related to Mr.
Herrenschneider, shortly before he died.

" The pastor, Lindner, slept in a room, which had
a door of communication into his study, through
which, as he lay in bed, he could see his desk, on
which was a large open Bible. Awaking in the
middle of a moonlight night, he thought he saw a
minister, in his clerical robes, standing at the desk,
and turning over the leaves of the Bible. He had
a child in his arms, and another bigger stood beside
him ; but the back of the latter was towards him.
Distrusting his senses, the pastor sat up in bed,
rubbed his eyes, and asked himself whether he was

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 233

not dreaming. But feeling convinced he was awake,
he fixed his eyes on the desk, which he saw distinctly,
and cried aloud, ' All good spirits praise the Lord
God ! ' whereon the apparition approached him, and
ofiered him his hand ; which, however, he did not
take. Three times the spectre repeated the invita-
tion, but it was not accepted, and it vanished. The
features of the spectre sunk deep into the mind of
the minister ; but, by degrees, the circumstance faded
from his mind, and he had almost forgotten it, when,
one day, as he was waiting in the church to perform
some office, he went into the choir to pass the time,
by looking at the pictures ; but great was his sur-
prise, to recognize, in one of them, the features of
the spectre, in the same dress it had appeared to
wear. On inquiry, he learned that this portrait was
the likeness of one of his predecessors, who had in-
habited the manse forty or fifty years before him.
There was no one now in the parish, who could give
any account of this minister, except one very old
man, who — having been one of his flock — repre-
sented him as an eloquent preacher ; but added, that
he was supposed to have an improper intimacy
with his maid-servant, and to have had by her
some illegitimate children, whose fate was never
known.

" Some time after this, on occasion of some alter-
ations, a stove in the pastor s study being taken
down, the mason perceived a hollow place beneath,
in which were some bones of children. He called
to the minister to come and see them, who beheld

234 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

with amazement this evidence of his predecessor s
crime, and had them removed. Since that time, the
apparition has never been seen.

'' Ehrmann,

" Professor in the Protestant Seminary ofStrashurg"

There is a similar story concerning the manse at
Nuttelstadt^ which was sworn to before a magistrate.
There the animals could not be kept in the stable.
Female footsteps were constantly heard, and it ap-
peared as if somebody left the house^ and went to
the brook hard by to wash. After some time, the
remains of a new-born child were found in the well.
They were removed to another place, and the manse
was no more disturbed.

FOURTH FACT.

I had, some years before, heard that the family of
a poor watchman were much disturbed by spectres,

but I inquired no further. When Mrs. H came

here, and the story of Mr. K and the paper

became known, many people begged me to ask her,
when she was asleep, how these poor people might
be relieved from the annoyance. I put the thing
aside; but, at length, the people came themselves,
and the woman having related the story to me, I
consented to do what was requested. She told me,
that as soon as they went into their present dwelling,
she saw in the night two women, in antique costume,
with cotton aprons and folded coifs, come from be-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 235

hind her bed. She saw them for a few minutes, and
then they disappeared. In St. Catherine's nighty
1823, she and her husband disagreed. " I thought
on my mother, who was dead, and wished I was
with her ; and I wept, and prayed that she would
fetch me. Then there appeared before me something
tall, and as white as a handkerchief, but without any
defined form. I thought it was my mother, but it
vanished without speaking. For four weeks I saw
nothing more, till the first night of Advent, when I
prayed against poverty and a large family. Then
this white figure came, and disappeared, as before.
On Christmas night of the same year, as I was lying
awake, I felt something moving about my head, and
over my breast, like a dog or a cat ; and although
there was no fire in the stove, the plate looked red-
hot ; then there was a sharp sound, and all disap-
peared. By day and night invisible feet are heard
in my room, and a rustling, as of paper. There
often shines out of the wall, by night, a lustre, round
as a plate — remains for some time — and then disap-
pears behind the wall again. Once, when I was
quite awake, a figure, as large as the white one, but
quite black, stood before me, and I thought a hand
was laid upon my neck ; the sensation was as if a
hot coal had touched me. In the morning, the place
was red, and became inflamed, and there remain
three marks, as of fingers. (These finger-marks, or
scars, as from burnt fingers, the woman really had
upon her neck.) On New- Year s night, as I was
alone in my room, I heard a voice say, ' Sing the

236 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

hymn, ^' Oh, Jesus, when shall I be free?" and the
prayer, " Oh, make me a clean heart." ' On Sun-
day nights, I often hear beautiful voices singing ;
and there is sometimes a flash of lightning, and
sometimes lights shining on our floor or ceiling, when
there is nothing of the sort without, or in the neigh-
bourhood. When there are dissensions amongst us,
these appearances cease ; but when we are living in
peace, and praying nightly, they come again. Last
Friday night, as I lay awake in bed, the door opened,
and there entered a man in grey clothes, with folds
on the back. He passed my bed, and went towards
the bench, where I saw another man sitting in dark
clothes, whom I cannot precisely ^escribe. The first
spoke to the last for some time, hut my spirit was
too weak to understand what he said; it seemed to
be a reproof. On this night, I frequently heard a
knocking and scratching on the bed and bench."
She added — what is remarkable, namely — that when
these appearances come her eyelids always close, and
she sees them mentally. When the apparitions va-
nish, her lids rise again. Once, when she was in
her garden, she felt herself directed to a certain
place ; there she found some groschen,* but she could
only take away with her two.

This woman is forty years of age — small — ap-
pears feeble — and has a very strange look about the
eyes. She has six little children. The two youngest
of them are remarkable : the eldest of the two being

* A small coin.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 237

as black as nighty and the other as white as snow ;
this last has the gift of ghost-seeing also, and the
spirits often take it from the bed, and seem to kiss it.
It was some time before I mentioned these cir-
cumstances to Mrs. H 5 who, when I did, wished

to see the woman ; whereupon I brought her to her^
and she repeated what she had told me. The woman
became very light and cheerful when with the som-

nambule ; but Mrs. H avoided her strange eyes,

which she told me afterwards gave her an uncom-
fortable sensation.

On the same evening, when asleep, she said to me,
" This woman speaks truth ; she sees spirits, and is
always, unknown to herself, in a half sleep-waking
state. She must wear an amulet, composed of ^yo
and seven laurel berries — and they must be so counted
— and she will see the spectres no more. Were
there only seven berries, she would sleep ; which
must not be, for her husband would reproach her."

On the following day, I took the woman the amu-
let, and bade her wear it. She told me, that since

she had been with Mrs. H she felt quite easy ;

she thought she had left it all behind her there.

In the morning, Mrs. H and her attendant

said, they had heard much knocking and rustling
in the night ; as they did also on the night of the
12th February.

On the 1 3th, I went to the woman to inquire the
ejQTect of the amulet. She told me that, on the first
night she wore it, an unseen hand tried for a long
time to tear it oflP ; but she heard no more knocking.

238 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

But that morning her husband had taken the amulet
from her, as he hoped to make money by the re-
demption of the spirits ; and he reproached her with
having, by means of the amulet, driven them away.
The man had just quitted the room in anger when I
arrived ; and the woman confessed to me that she
also believed chat money was hidden in the house ;
and, as they had borne with the spirits so long, they
wished to have the benefit of the treasure, which
would doubtless be found. As it was impossible to
get this Idea out of her head, and, as she would not
wear the amulet, I went to her no more.

On the night of the 17th, a knocking was heard

in Mrs. H 's room, and a tall man, of about

forty years of age, in a white coat, entered and look-
ed calmly at her ; and she afterwards said, when
asleep, that he would return on the night of the 1 9th ;
adding, that she must then take a bit of red coral in
her hand, which would still the palpitations of her
heart, and enable her to endure the sight of the
spectre.

On this occasion, my wife resolved to take the
place of her attendant, for the purpose of observing
her. About ten o'clock the knocking and clapping
began on the bed-stead, table, and wall, now here,
now there ; and my wife satisfied herself that it was
made by neither the sister noi the invalid, on whom
she kept her eyes fixed, and who was lying quite
still, with her arms on the coverlet. At one o'clock,
she took from the table a piece of red coral, which
had been placed there at her desire, and then, sitting

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 239

up^ spoke firmly to some one at the foot of the bed.
She said — '' That I cannot do ;" and more than that
they could not hear. When my wife asked her
what was the matter, she inquired if they did not
see the spectre that was standing at the foot of the
bed. They said they did not ; but she would not
tell them what it had said. When I asked her the
next morning, she told me unwillingly, for she said
it gave her pain to talk of these spectres. This one
wore a yellowish white coat, and a girdle like a
lady's. It said — " See, I come to you that I may
be wholly redeemed.'' I answered — ^* That I cannot
do ; your Redeemer alone can do that.** It said —
'' Oh ! pray for me ! " and bade me open the book at
a certain hymn, and often read it ; which I promised
to do.

When I asked about the eyes of this spectre, she
said these things were indescribable : the eyes were
like two light points ; and that a person who saw
spirits did not see them as they saw human beings.
She added that, when he turned to go out of the
door, she saw folds on the back of his coat.

She frequently read the hymn, as desired ; but,
on the 21st February, she reproached herself with
having omitted it, and said she must read it three
times. She said she should speak again with the
spectre that night, and that he would come again
between eleven and twelve ; so I placed a person,
on whom I could depend, in her sister's bed, for the
purpose of observing what happened. On the
following morning this person said to me — " We

240 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

went to bed about ten, and remained awake till
eleven, when I fell asleep. About twelve, Mrs.

H asked for some broth, and I was awakened

by her sister getting out of the bed to give it her.
She was scarcely in bed again when we heard a
strange f crackling and shuffling on the floor ; then
there was a knocking on the walls, and on Mrs.

H 's bed, as with hammers. I watched Mrs.

H all the time. She lay quite quiet,^ with her

hands on the coverlet ; presently she began to speak,
but without sitting up. Her conversation seemed
to be addressed to something near her bed^ which I
could not see. By and by, she said — ^^ The spectre is
gone, but will return anon ;" and then we again heard
the sounds, and she spoke as before. Then I heard
her say — " Open it yourself;" and I saw, with an
awe which I had not before felt, the cover of the
book move, as it lay on her bed, and it was opened
by an unseen hand. I could not perceive the

slightest motion on the part of Mrs. H , nor her

bed. When she said — " God be praised, he is gone,"
we questioned her about the spectre, but she said —
'^ Leave him in peace," and was silent.

Mrs. H told me, that, after the noises above

mentioned, the spectre came to the foot of her bed ;
and when she asked him why he came to her, he
said it was to obtain his perfect redemption. I said
— '' This is a fancy ; why do you not stay with the
woman who prays for you ? " He said — "^ That
woman has not so much sense as you, and cannot
talk to me."

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 241

M7^s. H ; " Why are you in that poor

house ? — What were you ?"

The Spectre : '^ I held a humble situation. In
that house were two orphans, whom I deceived : I
defrauded them of their property/'

Mrs, H : " Why did you do so ?"

The Spectre : " My best friend, who was very
rich, seduced me into doing it."

" Were you not equally rich ?"

'' No ; but I wished to be so. All that I got dis-
honestly I shared with my friend. I pretended to
serve the orphans — but it was only pretence."

'^ What was your name ? " He did not answer.
" Why will you not tell it ?"

" I may not tell my whole name ; one letter in
it was L."

^^ Can you make others hear your knocking?"

"No; but' he who was my friend can; I will
bring him."

*^ That will shock me ; T will not see him. Leave
me, I bid you."

He replied that he would bring him, for he also
needed help ; and when I desired him to go, he dis-
appearedj saying he would return in a few minutes.
Presently we heard a noise again, and he returned.
I asked if any of his relations were alive ; he an-
swered— ^' Yes ; but far from here."

" My hymn-book lay on the bed," said Mrs.

H , " and when he bade me open it, as I was

very weak, I bade him do it, but he disappeared.
I asked her if she had not seen the book open, but

242 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

she said slie had not looked at it. When the spectre
appeared, she felt obliged to speak to it. On the
following day, having omitted to read the hymn,
there was much knocking ; whereon she remembered
it, and took the book; and, while she read it, the
knocking increased, and with other noises were
heard, even in the chambers of the lodgers above.

On the 23d, we observed that she had been much
alarmed, though we knew not from what cause ;
and she was seized with spasms. When asleep, she
said — " Seeing him thus by day, when other people
are around me, shocks me. That woman (the
watchman's wife) should be more rational ; she
prays only for money.*' When I asked her why
the man, through whose intervention the paper was
found, did not knock, she said it was because she
only saw him when asleep ; once only she had seen
him awake. " Those who knock are those who
want aid, and are yet far from their Eedeemer, but
find him on being taught how to seek him. A
mortal can shew them the way, but cannot redeem
them. The dark spirit's thoughts are fixed on the
house in which he lived, and he drags back the white
one. I am not afraid of the spirits generally, but it
is hard I am to be persecuted by more of them.
This dark one will kill me. His words are not sighs,
like the others, they are groans." By the dark
spirit she meant the rich friend above alluded to.

On the night of the 23d, she was awakened by
the white spirit, who begged her to say over with
him the ten commandments. She did so, asking

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 243

him the questions, and he answered. She wept
when I questioned her in the morning about it, say-
ing, that he would bring his friend with him every
night. The appearance of this evil spirit frightened
her, and made her ill. She remembered well what
such an one had caused her to suffer for a whole
year at Oberstenfeld ; and she thought it was a trial
too great for a mortal. She added that the white
spirit had told her that his friend had been a higher
officer than he was.

On the 24th, she fell into a state of magnetic
dreaming, quite distinct from her ordinary conditions.
In this state, she generally remembered what she
had dreamt, and was quite aware it was a dream.
She talked aloud to the dark spirit, whom she
thought was before her ; and she described to me
afterwards two neighbouring houses in which these
spirits generally were roaming, even to the number
of doors, and every particular. In one of these the
inhabitants were much troubled with inexplicable
noises, like people going and coming, approaching
the doors as if about to enter the rooms, sio:hink%
coughing^ &c. &c. She said it was fortunate the
spirits could not answer all that was desired of
them, or they would be more tormented than they
are already.

When in a sleep- waking state, she said — '' This
white spirit will come to me till he has rest, but the
other ought not to come ; I will pray for him, but
I cannot bear to see him. And oh! that stupid
woman, who always prays for money ! She does it

244 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

for fear of her husband. AYlien asleep, I rejoice to
live amongst spirits ; but awake^ they make me sad.
Wonderful ! to see spectres, and talk to them, and
take pleasure in it ; but it is only the spiritual part
of me that likes it, not my flesh and blood. Ah !
how many do we live amongst whom we do not see."
She also said — " Happy are the pure in heart;
and happy are those who see not, and yet believe ! "

On the 2d of March, the white spirit appeared to
her twice, with an angry aspect, and told her that
he had fallen back through his friend. On these
two occasions she was quite awake. She fled into
another room, and was immediately attacked by
convulsions. On the same evening, when I was
with her, there was a sudden flash of light in the
room, and she immediately fell back into a magnetic
dream; then she arose with closed eyes, talked to
the spectre, opened her book, and sang difierent
hymns, &c. &c. When she awoke, she said that,
with that flash of light, the white spirit had ap-
peared, and told her that the friend had, by derision,
drawn him back, and she told him how to avoid
him. On that night he came again, when she was
in bed, and she asked him the following questions : —

^' How long were you upon the earth V

''' Seventy-nine years."

" At what period did you live ?"

'^ In 1700."

" Where did you live ? "

"- Not far from the small house where the orphans
were."

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 245

" Where did the other live?"

'"^ He lived farther from that house."

" Did you die before him V

" He died three years before me."

'^ Why do you sometimes come to me so gloomy,
and then again cheerful ? "

" The dark spirit gets power over me by mockery;
but now I am firmer."

" I beseech you to pray for yourself, that you
may stand firm."

Then he bade her open the hymn-book, and
vanished.

On the 3d March, whilst in cheerful conversation,
she fell suddenly into violent convulsions, from
which we had great difficulty in recovering her.
When we had, she said that the white spirit had
appeared with the other looking over his shoulder,
which terrified her ; and that she should never re-
cover if this persecution continued. I entreated her
to bid them come no more, and banish them from
her thoughts ; but she said her word was given to
the white one, and she must keep it. She observed
that the spectres seldom came on a Sunday night.

On the 6th, the spirit told her he felt that he was
now approaching his Redeemer ; and she prayed
with him. She then asked him how it happened
that he was acquainted with hymns which were not
written till long after his death ? He answered —
" The vision of spirits is unlimited."

On the 6th of May, as she was leaving the room,
she suddenly turned back from the door, and fell

246 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

asleep. She said she had met the spirit, and she
repeated this when she awoke. He next appeared
behind her, when she was looking out of the window
at a flock of sheep. She felt something pull her
dress^ and, on looking behind, perceived him so close
to her that she could not move. He breathed out
to her — *' Near thee I find repose." She fainted,
and fell upon the bed. She said — " Were it five
years hence, I would endure him better, for then he
will not be as he is now."

On the night of the 8th, after many noises were
heard, he came again when she was in bed ; and she
observed that, before he went away, he leaned over
her sister and the maid, who were sleeping, and
said — " May the eye of God watch over ye." On
the 10th, when he was with her, she stopped her
ears to try if she could still hear him, whereon he
said — ^'^ You will still hear me." She added, that
the spirits often answered her thoughts before she
had spoken. On the 12 th, after praying, she asked
him if any of his writing was still extant? He
said — '' Little of mine, but much of my friend's."
He also said they had lived in the 16th and 17th
centuries.

On the 16th, she asked him, at my request, why
she never saw him and heard him at the same time^
for the noises always preceded the apparitions.
He said, it was because he made himself visible and
audible through the air, and could only do one at a
time. She also inquired why she, and no one else,
saw him ; and he answered — " Because your sensa-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 247

tions are more spiritualized." When lie appeared
on the 10th, at our desire she asked him to point
out the house he had lived in, and to make himself,
or his friend, audible to others.

On the morning of the 23d, at one o'clock, I sud-
denly awoke, and heard seven knocks, one after the
other, at short intervals, seeming to proceed from
the middle of my chamber ; my wife was awakened
also ; and we could not compare this knocking to

any ordinary sound. Mrs. H lived several

houses distant from us.

On the 28th, she questioned the spectre about the
middle -state ; and he said it was a place where those
went who did not believe in salvation through Christ.

On the 30th, the R^v. Mr. Herrmann wrote down
the following questions, and begged her to obtain
answers from the spectre. They were as follows : —
" Do you know the mother of our Lord ? — Can her
prayers in heaven avail us, and have they much
power? — Is she in closer union with her Son than
other spirits ? " The spirit appeared at night, whilst
she was taking her broth, and stood behind the at-
tendant till she had eaten it, which she did calmly ;
then he drew near, and she held the paper out to him,
whereon he spoke as follows, but so slowly, that she
thought she should never have patience to wait till
he had finished : — " I know the mother of God
somewhat better than you : she can pray for me like
any other blessed spirit. There is no more close

union between her and our Redeemer; but'*

and then he paused ; " and when I asked him for

248 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

an explanation of that hut. he answered — " It has a
beautiful signification, and is very powerful with the
blest. More I may not say."

On the 3d of April she said, when asleep — " Why
does he come to me ? he might go to God if he
would ; but he cannot, because he did not do it
when on earth. We have only one Mediator ; why
will these unblest spirits apply to any other to help
them ? Where shall I find this spiritual kingdom ?
Why do you nod to me ? Let no one defer his re-
pentance till he comes to this. I would rather be
here than in that region. They feel their sins more
acutely than they did here, and the evil ones trouble
those that are better. A mental trouble is worse
than a bodily one. All do not come down to those
lower regions — some are in a happy place. I cannot
see it, but I feel it through one of the happy spirits.
There they have all they desire." A person stand-
ing by said — '^ Have they trees and flowers ? " She
answered — " Few wish for them. Their desires are
not like ours ; they wish for higher things."

On the 6 th of April, Mrs. H quitted her

lodging, and became my guest. When we entered
a room, where she had been sitting alone, we found
her in a sleep-waking state ; and she told us that
two female forms had appeared to her, and that they
were the two orphans. When she awoke, she did
not know who they were. They were brighter than
the other spectres ; and when she asked them why
they came to her, they answered — " We come to
you from joy and gratitude towards God/' The

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 249

words seemed to proceed from both^ though there
were not two voices ; and they spoke like the other
spirits, but not so slow and heavily. She could not
think why they came, unless to portend her death —
at which she should rejoice ; although their sudden
appearance had startled her.

On the 9th^ the spectre came to her, for the first
time, to my house, and prayed with her. As he
came a second time, on the same morning, she in-
quired the reason, and he told her that he should
come three times that day to prepare for the cele-
bration of the approaching fast. He came, however,
four times ; and, as the last visit was unexpected, it
startled her, and she fell into a magnetic dream,
in which it appeared to her that he had come
again, because the evil spirit, his friend, had been
seeking to shake his good resolves. I asked her if
the spirits walked like other mortals. She said they
moved so, but still not as if they placed one foot be-
fore the other in the same way. She also said that
he had told her two more letters of his name — B
and ^; and that he appeared to her at the age he
had been when he defrauded the orphans — namely,
about fifty.

We ought to have remarked before, that ever

since the time the Eeverend Mr. H had sent

those written interrogations which were shewn the
spectre, he had found himself awakened at a parti-
cular hour every night, and felt immediately an ear-
nest disposition to prayer. There was always, at

V ^ 5 V

250 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the same time, a knocking in his room — sometimes
on the floor^ and sometimes on the walls — which his
wife heard as well as himself ; but they saw nothing.
On the 10th April, I wrote a request that the spirit
would make himself visible to me, which she shewed
him. He answered, that this had been desired before^
but it was not in his power. As, on the 13th, he
quitted her before the usual time spent in prayer had
elapsed, she inquired the reason ; when he answered,
that he must leave her before the hour of the fast
began, which he was now permitted to celebrate,
and that he should not come again till it was over.
Neither did he ; and when he returned, at the end
of eight days, he looked brighter, and his form was
less dense.

On Good Friday, as she lay in the magnetic sleep,
the door opened and shut in our presence, without
any human intervention ; and she told us it was the
dark spirit, who was in trouble on that day. She
also said, being asleep, that the white spectre was
in the house of that nerve-spirit who had asked the

written questions — meaning Mr. H . '^ But

do not tell him so. He goes to him every night ;
and this nerve- spirit is thinking of quitting that

house." Some time after, Mr. H did quit that

house, and went to Heilbronn. When the spectre
came next, she asked him where he had held the
fast; and he said, in the mid-region, with other
spirits. Having asked him, why he wished her to
go to the house he had formerly inhabited ; he said,

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 251

that in that house were two orphans, and that she
must give them three kreutzers."^ She could not com-
prehend this desire, but said she must obey it. I
actually found two orphans in the house named, but
not so poor as to accept of so small a sum ; we
therefore deferred giving the money, till I could ex-
plain the motive.

On the 1 8th of April, at nine o'clock in the even-
ing, Mrs. H was in the sleep-waking state ; and

in the room were her husband, her eldest sister, the
stipendiaries — Binder, from Stuttgart, and Strauss,
from Ludwigsburg — ^my wife, and myself. My wife
being very much fatigued, lay down on the sister s
bed — the rest of the company were talking on indif-
ferent matters — and I had my eyes fixed on my wife ;
when, all at once, close to the bed on which my wife
lay, we heard a long, fearful groan ; and she started
up, saying, that somebody had groaned in her ear,
and that she had felt even the breath of the person.
(The sensation of this, she felt for weeks afterwards.)

At that very moment, Mrs. H sat up, and, with

closed eyes, pointing towards the bed my wife lay
on, she said, " There he stands ! That was his groan,
because the kreutzers are not given. He cannot
knock now any more. Had the woman sought, she
would have found the money ; I cannot go out to
seek it in the grass. Reproach me not ; I am not
subject to you. Oh ! a pious spirit would not speak
thus ! Come when I am awake, and say then what

* A coin.

252 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

you will. I bid you go, and let me rest." She
afterwards said, that the spirit insisted that the
money should be paid that day; and that she had
seen him leaning over my wife, and groaning, be-
cause it had been committed to her to do it, and she
had not. This was true ; as she waited till I could
explain the motive of the gift. She said, that she
would ask the white spirit to procure that his dark
friend should make himself visible in some house,
when the thing was possible ; adding — " But I say,
happy are those who see not, and yet believe."

We then retired to our chamber, above stairs;
and, as Ave were fatigued, our friends gone, and our
children long asleep, we went to bed immediately,
and fell asleep also, without saying a word more of
what had happened below. At twelve o'clock, a
child of five years old, who slept in the same room
with us, suddenly screamed out, and sprang from its
own bed into its mother's, crying, " Wake, wake !
Here's a black man, who wants to kiss me, or bite
me." She hugged her mother, who tried to comfort
her, as she screamed with terror ; but neither I nor
my wife saw any thing. We have observed before,
that the dark spirit often took that woman's child
from its bed, and kissed it. The expression of the
child, that he wanted to kiss her or bite her, accorded

exactly with Mrs. H 's description of him —

that he had a black head, with projecting teeth.

On the evening of the 19th — Mrs. H being

in bed, and I writing at a table near her — I suddenly
heard a noise, like the rustling of paper, on the com-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 253

mode behind me, where there was nothing of that
sort. I rose instantly, to examine the cause^ but

could find none whatever; and Mrs. H 's bed

was at a considerable distance from the spot. On
asking her the reason afterwards, when she was sleep-
waking, she said, " That I dare not yet tell you."
The same thing happened, when I was with her the
next day ; but the rustling, &c. was on the table,
instead of the commode ; and when I asked her the
reason, she made me the same answer. As the spirit
now came at all hours, she asked him, why he did
so ; and he said, " It is because he whom you call
the dark one leaves me no rest ; he seeks rest through
me." On the 21st, in the morning — her window
being open — gravel was thrown in, which I myself,
saw, and picked up ; although there was no one seen
who could throw it. It was such gravel as lay in
front of the house. Other sounds were heard in the
room, equally unaccountable ; and later, when she
was alone, a stool, that stood before the writing-
table, was raised up to the ceiling by some invisible
power, and then slowly descended. In the evening,
we being in the garden, and nobody in the house
but herself and the maid, they both heard a sound
of running overhead, and called me. I hastened up,
and could find nothing ; but I heard feet treading
after me, all through the rooms, and back to the
stairs. When I asked her an explanation of these
things, in her sleep, she sighed, and said, " It is all
the dark spectre, but I will have nothing to say to
him." I begged her to send him to me; but she

254 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

said, ^' That is not in my power ; I have asked the
white spectre to do it, but it must be according to
the will of the Lord." When my wife and I were
in bed, on the 11th, we were awakened by a soft
knocking on the two windows, which were on quite
opposite sides of the room. On the 22^^ gravel was
again flung into the room, and also at the maid, when
she was outside the house, but she could see no one
near ; and my house stands very much exposed.
At mid-day, Mrs. H having gone into the court-
yard, she returned alarmed, and fell into the half-
waking state. She said she had been met by a strange
animal, as large as a dog, with a long snout and roll-
ing eyes ; she cried to it, '' Go hence ! all good
spirits praise the Lord !" whereon it vanished.
Afterwards, in her room, this apparition returned,
in a form resembling a bear. When asleep, she said,
" Now I see how black his soul must be, when he
comes in such frightful shapes ; but I must see him,
because now he cannot go to the other, who is almost
in bliss."

On the 23d of April, as we were sitting in the
upper story, by candle-light, a white cloudy form,
seen by us all, floated past the window, and imme-
diately we heard sounds, as on preceding occasions.
At night, at 11, when we were all in bed, Mrs.

H 's sister burst into the room, saying, they had

heard a noise of chains at the window ; and, on
looking that way, had twice seen a dark face looking
in. I searched, but found nobody, and shut the
shutters. On the 25th, when I and the sister were

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 255

in the room, small ashes were flung, not in at the
window, but from a corner; the door of the room
was shut, and my wife was looking from an upper
window at the moment, and saw nobody.

On the 7th day, as he had fixed, the white spirit
returned ; and he now said, the kreutzers must be
given on that day; I therefore proceeded to deliver
them myself. I found the orphans were, on that very
day, about to quit the house, which was their pro-
perty, and in which their parents had lived. They
were, consequently, much depressed ; but they told
me, that both they and their parents had often seen
a white form, like a cloud, as well as heard various
unaccountable sounds about the house — sighing,
groaning, and coughing. Their father believed the
house was haunted, but not by an evil spirit.

When next the white spirit came, he expressed
his satisfaction that the money had been given. It
appeared that some idea of expiation was attached
to this act.

The white spirit now returned, in a much brighter
form ; he said that his name had been Belon, and
that now it was Jamua. " I used to write, Bellon,"
he said; " but my proper name was Belon." He
added, that now he could go to his Redeemer, and
divest himself of all earthly thoughts.

As I now knew his name, I made every inquiry
about him, but could hear of no such person ; till at
length the Mayor Pfaff", after some researches, found,
that in the year 1700, there lived a burgomaster,
and guardian of orphans, of that name ; and that he

250 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

must have died in 1740^ as the division of his pro-
perty took place in that year. In the register of
deaths for 1740, I accordingly found his name, with
his age, 79 years. We also found a deed, wherein
was a complaint against this man, from a family long
since extinct. It contained facts regarding his ava-
rice, &c. ; and proved that he had lived in the house
he had designated.

On the 27th, an animal, like a monstrous scorpion^
came out of the corner of the room ; she bade it go,
in the name of Jesus, and it vanished. Afterwards,
when I was sitting with her whilst she slept, there
was a sound, as of sand or ashes thrown from a cor-
ner; but I could not see them. I called up my
people ; and when I returned, she — being sleep-
waking — said, ^^ Had you remained, and called no-
body, you would have heard more."

On the 80th, at the desire of a friend, she shewed
the white spectre a paper, on which was written, " If
you be a good spirit, tell us how we must live, to
escape going into the middle state after death ? " He
answered, " Yea, through my Mediator and Re-
deemer, I am now good and happy. Who desires
the highest happiness, must trust wholly to the Gos-
pel, and the teaching of Jesus."

At midnight, on the 3d of May, the white spirit
suddenly waked Mrs. H — — , and bade her look
to her sister ; for that the dark spirit would come
for four nights, and stand beside her bed ; and as she
would see him, it might frighten her to death. He
said, somebody must stay with her. Mrs. H lay

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 257

still, and watched ; and presently she saw the dark
spirit, like a pillar, beside her sister s bed. When he
had been there about two minutes, the sister awoke

in great terror. Mrs. H bade her get up, and

call somebody ; but the figure being still there, tho
girl said, she dare not move on any account. After-
wards, when it moved away, she arose ; and, coming
to us, said, that her sister begged some one would
come and stay in the room. We sent the maid, who
slept with her ; but, during the whole of the night
afterwards, there were inexplicable noises in every
part of the house, heard by us all. On the follow-
ing morning, Mrs. H told us what had hap-
pened, and her sister then first heard an explanation
of her own sensations. She said, she had awaked in
great horror, and, without knowing why, had found
it impossible to get out of bed ; but she saw no ghost,
nor had thought of any. She complained all day of
a pain in that side next which the spectre had stood.
At mid-day, there were such noises in the room I
was in, that the people from above came down to
inquire the cause.

At night, we wished the maid to sleep in the room
again, but she would not ; but after the sister was in

bed, Mrs. H- arose in her sleep, and, with closed

eyes, put on her dressing-gown, handkerchief, and
stockings, and laying herself at the foot of her sister s
bed, took hold of her hand, and held it fast. After
some time, she awoke, surprised to find herself there ;
and immediately returned to her own bed. She said,

258 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

in the morning, that the white spirit had bade her
take care of her sister ; and that, while &he lay there,
he had knelt beside her, and the black one had stood
at a distance. On the following night, we sent the
sister to sleep at a friend's house, and we procured
another attendant. The next day, when my wife
was in the cellar, there was such a knocking, on the
barrels and vessels, that she called me down, but we

could find nothing ; and at night, in Mrs. H 's

room, though doors and window-shutters were closed,
there was a great deal of throwing, &c. &c. The
white spirit was now so thin and vapoury, that she
could scarcely see him ; he told her he should only
come twice more, as it was now more difficult for
him to do so. He confided to her many things>
which she would not tell us : one was, that there are
eight beatitudes. The noises continued daily. On
the 1 7th, being asleep, she said, " Oh ! what joy ! —
what delight ! T was never so happy before. Mor-
tal man cannot imagine it. How may pious souls
rejoice at what awaits them ! Here we think music
and flowers beautiful ; but what are these to heavenly
music and flowers ? But what do they sufier who
are in the middle-state so long, and cannot reach
these delights ? " When she awoke, she said, we all
looked so thick and heavy, she could not imagine
how w^e could move.

With respect to our pressing her to ask questions
of the spirits, in order that we might be convinced
they were not the ofi'spring of her own imagination.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 259

she said, it was indifferent to her, whether people
believed in them or not ; and that the more she
questioned them, the more she was brought into
relation with them^ instead of being delivered from
them.

On the night of the 31st, my wife suddenly awoke
in great fear, and sat up in bed. Immediately after-
wards we heard the sister's voice, calling out of the
window from below, to us above, that there was
somebody at the house-door that led into the yard.
I jumped out of bed, and running to the window,
I heard somebody trying to open the door ; but could
see nothing, although it was moonlight. I called out,
but there was no answer ; and immediately there
was a noise from the roof, as if somebody was throw-
ing down gravel. I then fired out of the window,
but all was silent, and nothing stirred.

On the 29 th, the white spirit came, accompanied
by a bright female figure ; they all sang a hymn,

which Mrs. H certainly did not know before ;

then he thanked her for her prayers, and they de-
parted through the door, Mrs. H said, she

longed earnestly to go with them. The white spirit
had previously promised her, that the dark one
would come to her no more.

In August, there came to me a woman from Le-

nach, by name L S , desiring to speak to

Mrs. H , on the subject of some extraordinary

annoyances with which she had been troubled for
several years. She had been told that Mrs. H

260 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

saw apparitions, but had heard no particulars what-
ever.

She said, " In the house I lived in, I heard sounds
by night, like rolling of balls,, groaning, and weep-
ing ; and sometimes a weight seemed to fall upon
me ; and something unseen would approach me, so
near, that I actually felt its breath. All this made
me so ill, that I left the house." I asked her, in
what house this had happened ; and great was my
surprise, to hear it was in Bellon's. '^ When I went
home to Lenach," she said, ^' I heard nothing ; but
afterwards going to service at Neustadt, I found
myself tormented as before ; and, in addition, I often
saw a white apparition standing by my bedside. I
fell ill, and returned home again ; and there I was
persecuted by a frequent sound of moaning, which
my mother heard as well as I, and which troubled
us for two years. I often heard things thrown after
me, but could never find any thing ; and also a sort
of imperfect speaking, as if people were trying to
speak, and could not. On waking suddenly, I
sometimes saw the white apparition standing by my
bed." The mother of this woman (who was married,
and had children) confirmed all she said ; adding,
that the sounds were heard by her husband, who had
also seen a dark figure.

I arranged that this woman — the daughter —

should sleep a night in Mrs. H 's room, in order

to ascertain if she saw the apparitions that came to

Mrs. H . She did not, but she heard them ; and the

consequence to us was, that the dark spirit, who had

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 261

not lately been seen, returned, and troubled us for
some time. These circumstances will be alluded to
again.

Some time afterwards, I saw this woman on her
deathbed, when she assured me, that all she had told
us was true ; and added, that the dark spirit had,
seven days before, informed her and her husband of
their approaching death by a sign, which, as she was
then dying, she could not explain to me. She and
her husband died within a few days of each other.

FIFTH FACT.

On the 6th July 1827, Mrs. H went to walk

in the avenue, near my house, which leads to the
town ; but she returned hastily, after a few steps,
saying, she could not go any further. I did not
learn the reason till the 1 4th, when she told me, she
had seen a man whom she recognized to be a spectre ;
and that he had visited her frequently by night since,
begging her to go to the castle with him, where there
was a large and a small cellar, into which she must
go ; and when she refused, he told her, that he must
continue to come to her till she did what he required.
She described him as having a good and friendly
aspect, and said that he excited no alarm. He
looked about seventy years of age — had a long beard,
an old-fashioned coat and hat, such as the Tyrolese
now wear, and half-boots — and his speech was more
easy and rapid than that of the other spirits. In
answer to her questions, he said he had lived in 1520

262 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

—that he was in a state of bliss— but that something
prevented his further advance ; and he besought her
to take resolution, and go with him. She said, that
no spirit she had seen was so pleasing to her as this
one. On the 21st, she asked him, with what the
spirits employed themselves in the place he was in.
He said, *-' I am where the heathens are^ and those
upright men who had no opportunity of knowing
their Saviour ; and we are there instructed by the
angels^ till W€ are fit for a higher place." He added,
that there were eight beatitudes — but, as yet, only
seven, as the eighth had not begun ; and that that
was what was meant by the kingdom of 1000 years.
On the 20th, she told him, that she could not go
with him to the castle, unless he told her his name.
He said, that she must not know till they were
there. About this time, another form, less bright
than this, appeared sometimes : the dress was mili-
tary— the age about forty — and his appearance was
accompanied with a jingling sound, like that of spurs;

* and one day, as the Reverend Mr. H and I

were reading with her, he suddenly stopped, saying,
something had touched his foot ; and she told me
afterwards, that this military apparition had at that
time been close to him. It walked up and down the
room — looked calmly at her — but said nothing. Mr.
H was frequently conscious of the neighbour-
hood of spirits, ever since he had been brought into
relation with them by means of those written inter-
rogations. Presently afterwards, as Mrs. H

lay on her bed asleep, in her clothes — and with her

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 263

boots on, which were fastened on her feet by hooks
— I entered the room, and was looking at her, when
the boots were taken off her feet by an unseen hand
— carried through the air, to where her sister was
standing at the window — and set down beside her.

Mrs. H lay perfectly still the whole time, and

knew nothing of it when I awoke her ; her sister
wept, and did not like to touch the boots again.
When this spectre came, the night-light was always
extinguished, and once she saw him extinguish it
himself.

On the 2 2d, this spectre spoke for the first time,
and told her, in a mocking tone, that he was the
huntsman of him who wanted her to go to the castle.
Shortly afterwards, when her sister and my daughter
were in the room, a screen that lay on the table was
flung off it, to the other side of the room. Mrs.

H , who was in bed, had just before seen the

huntsman enter by the door. On the 10th, he en-
tered hastily, and flung all the papers from the table
to the ground. AYhen she asked him what he wanted,
he said, that he wished to prevent the other spirit
having rest yet. On the evening of the 24th, this
spectre returned, bringing with him a tall, thin,
elderly woman, whose form was dark, and counte-
nance disagreeable. She aippeared in antiquated
fashion, with a high cap, and under it a sort of veil,
such as was worn by all the female spectres ; her
dress was thick, and very full, and her shoes were
pointed. They walked backwards and forwards in
the room, and looked at Mrs. H , but said no-

264 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

thing. When she inquired of the other spirit the
cause of these two coming, he told her, it was to
prevent her doing what he wished ; for that, when
alive, this huntsman had hated him, and had taken
his hatred with him when he died. The cause of
the hatred was, that he had discharged him from his
service, &c. &c.

Mrs. H had frequently told me, that she had

dreamt there was something in our cistern in the
kitchen — where she never had been — that should not
be there. It being now emptied, a very ancient,
long, thick, and rusty knitting-needle was found at

the bottom of it. I took it into Mrs. H 's room,

and left it on the table there. After some days,
though nobody had touched it, this needle was found
in the kitchen, on an upper story. I took it back
again to the lower floor, and laid it on the table ;
shortly afterwards, the huntsman and his companion
appeared, and Mrs. H— saw the needle lifted
from the table — which was six paces from her — and
carried through the air towards her. She screamed,
for some one to come to her aid ; and the needle, in-
stead of proceeding as far as where she lay, placed
itself in a glass of water, where I found it, when I
ran into the room, on hearing her voice.

On the evening of the 29th, Mrs. H being

alone, and my servant and another person sitting in
the adjoining chamber, but close to the door, the
huntsman and the woman returned, walking up and
down the room as usual, and ever and anon stopping
to look at her — though he said nothing but " Yes>,

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 265

yes, yes ! " in a mocking tone, and the woman looked
at her with a similar expression ; whereupon she
was attacked by spasms. At the same time, the two
persons in the next room heard the most extraordin-
ary noises — a ringing of spurs, and a sound, as if
all the chairs were being flung violently to the ground
— and wondering whence this could proceed, know-
ing Mrs. H to be in bed, they rushed into the

room ; when a stool was thrown at them, from the
opposite side of the room to where the bed stood, on

which, at the same time, they saw Mrs. H lying

insensible. When she awoke, she said she had seen
the spectres ; but knew nothing of the uproar, hav-
ing been insensible. At night, when asleep, she
said, she had heard the noise in her insensible state,
because she is then always magnetic ; but that awake
she knew nothing of it. At night, on the 1st August,
the good spirit came to her ; but the evil ones came
also, and stepped before him, when he disappeared.
The huntsman threatened to trouble her continually,
but she defied him in the name of God. On the 7th,
they came, bringing with them a very dark spirit,

of a short thick figure, which alarmed Mrs. H

very much. These continued to return frequently ;
and the good spirit now, when he came, brought
with him a small sheet of paper, on which she dis-
cerned large letters, intermingled with small red
ones. He said, " This is what hinders me." As
she could not well i*ead it by night, she bade him
bring it by day. On the 31st, I gave her a paper,
closely folded and sealed, on which was written,

266 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

*^ Jesus bears our sins — tell this joyful word to all;"
and I bade her offer it to the first spectre that came,
and ask him the contents. She did so ; and the
huntsman, without touching it, said, " Jesus ! — sins !
What is all that to me ? — I shall never be happy."
She said, " Can you ever hope, being so wicked, to
see God ? " He answered, " Hum ! — I never shall."
She then adjured him to go ; and in the morning,
she returned the paper sealed, as I had given it her.

At night, the huntsman returned alone, and gently,
but half jestingly, asked her to tell him how to pray.

" Are you in earnest ? — Would you pray V*

^' I would."

'' Why so?"

'^ That I may become happier."

" Do you believe that you can become happy
through prayer ? "

" Yes, I believe it now."

" Then trust in your Redeemer."

He than vanished. When he next returned, she
prayed with him again ; but she told him that she
would not do it any more if he brought that dark
spirit with him, who, part of the time, made such a
noise that the servant heard it. She told me that it
appeared to her, that the prayers and pious words
she uttered were diffused over the spirits, and made
them brighter; but she felt weakened by them.
When the huntsman next came, she asked him why
the good spirit came so seldom.

He answered-^" It is my fault ; he cannot come

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 267

when he would ; it is much more difficult for him to
come than me/'

^^ If I were to go to the castle, as he wishes, can
you tell me where the place he speaks of is V

" I could, but this black spirit will not let me."
Immediately the black spectre stood before her.

'*• It is said, you shall call on your Lord and
Saviour, and drive this black spirit from you."

'^ I will ; but tell me how."

" By continually beseeching your Redeemer to
pardon your sins." On the 12th, she asked him
why he was in the middle-region.

" For my sins. Teach me to pray."

" How are you bound to that good spirit ? "

^^ As by a chain, which has raised an inextinguish-
able hatred in him. I was his inferior, and I made
a present of a chain to his lady. He would not let
her wear it — took it and threw it into a vault. He
promised to help me to a better situation, but never
did it. I and a female servant took a great hatred
to him : we robbed him, and did him all the harm
we could. I will tell you all about it; but now
pray with me — say the Lord's Prayer."

On the night of the 13th, I placed the woman
from Lenach, above alluded to, in the room with Mrs.

H , and she told me in the morning she had

heard noises, and that then Mrs. H awoke and

spoke with some unseen person ; the first word she

heard was — "Why?" Mrs. H related the

following conversation : —

" I cannot pray a word but what you teach me "

268 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

^^ Why?"

" Because nobody teaches us ; we must find it
out by ourselves."

" Who calls on the Lord, him will he hear. He
will strengthen you, if you ask him," &c. &c. She
said the spectre drew in these words as a child does
something that excites his interest. He pressed her
to say more^ but she was exhausted, and could not. On
the 16 th after various noises, there came a tall dark

spirit Mrs. H had never seen. On the 17th, I and

my wife heard noises close to our chamber, but I could
find nobody. On the 21st, the huntsman came, with
the female and the short dark spectre; the latter
was very restless, as he always was ; and the woman

mockingly bade the huntsman not mind Mrs. H ,

but listen to her. He entreated her to let this
woman be brought to speak the name of Jesus. On
the 1 2th, there were noises in our room, and a table
was flung down without anybody touching it ; and I
felt, at the sametime, an indescribable sensation on
my left arm. On the 23d, the tall dark spirit ap-
peared again for the last time, but said nothing.

Mrs. H thought he came on account of the

woman from Lenach. On the 24th, Mrs. H

removed into the next house, where presently the
huntsman appeared in the next room to that she was
in, and beckoned to her. He told her he should
find her wherever she was ; but that he must not
speak to her, as it would injure her health. On the
night of her removal, I placed a very good honest
girl to sleep in her room, and she related to me that.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 2G9

in the night, the door had opened, and she had seen
a tall dark spectre moving about the room. This is
the same girl mentioned in the history of the third
apparition. On the 27th, the female spectre came
alone, and said, mockingly, she should prevent the
huntsman coming. He came, however, and said,
when she asked him the reason of this — ^' Oh !
God ! it is because, when alive, I was too closely
connected with her ! " He, however, wished her
also to be saved.

Mrs. H asked him if he could not take any

other form than that he had as a man. He answer-
ed— '^ Had I lived as a brute, I should so appear to
you. We cannot take what forms we will : as our
dispositions are, so we appear to you." As at that
moment she heard a sound of music from a neigh-
bouring house, she asked him if there was music
where he was. He said — '' No ; but sometimes we
hear that of the happy spirits, and that pains us."

" Do you hear earthly music V

" Now, when I am with you, I hear it through
you; not otherwise. We have no part in ^^hat
happens on earth."

As the woman and the short dark spirit still ac-
companied him, but stood at a distance, she asked
him who the latter was. He answered — " He is
one of those who can never be happy." On the 1st
of October, the dark spirit threatened her, and ap-
peared so terrible, that she became extremely ill ;
and, on the 2d, the female mockingly invited her to
go to the castle with her. These two spectres con-

270 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

tinued to threaten and trouble her much ; the black
one was so heavy, that his steps were audible. The
huntsman bade her not listen to them. On the 9th,
Mrs. H told me that a bright form had appear-
ed to her in white garments, and its head surrounded
by a glory of light. What it said she was not per-
mitted to tell me. She confessed that she had been
visited by this form once before, when it had said —
" I am one of those who are sent to serve such as are
to inherit eternal happiness." This spirit did not
walk on the ground like the others^ but floated ; the
others, compared to it, seemed as heavy as lead. It
was like a light cloud through which the sun shone.
At night, when the huntsman came, this spirit re-
turned, and spoke to him consolingly. She said this
bright spirit strengthened her as much as the others
weakened her. She knew who it had been when on
earth, but would not say. This spirit told her that
he had also been in the mid-region, but for a short
time, and not on so low a degree as the other spectres.
I afterwards learned that this bright form was that
of the deceased minister, T., of Oberstenfeld, men-
tioned in the early part of this work, on whose
grave she had stood. He was a most worthy ex-
cellent man.

The 19th October had now arrived — the period at
which, as we have described, she seemed to awake
out of her precarious condition, and was found to
have lost all recollection of what had occurred for
an interval of several months. On this morning she
related to me how she had been alarmed in the night

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 271

by a spectre in a short frock and boots, who had
begged her to comfort him ; and, when she asked
him what he required of her, he said — " That I have
often told you." Then came a bright white form of
one she had known when alive ; and, on asking
why it came to her, having long been dead, it
answered — " I come to give you strength ; calm
yourself/' When the spirits visited her now, she
remembered none of them. We told her their
histories, as she had told them to us. She expressed
great surprise at the short dark spirit ; and said that,
though these seemed like lead compared to the
bright form, yet they were very light compared to
us. ^^ How heavy we must be ! " When the female
spectre threatened her, she bade it come to me ; and,
on the same night, (2d November,) both I and my
wife were much disturbed by noises in our room,
and something was thrown at me. In the morning,

I learnt what Mrs. H had said to the spirit.

On the 9th, when the huntsman and the bright spirit
appeared together, the Lowenstein girl, who slept
in the room, saw the huntsman, but not the other.

Mrs. H said it could only be seen with the

spiritual eye, which lies within the fleshly one. On
the 15th, Mrs. H — — 's child, who was then three
years old, slept in the ante-room through which the
huntsman passed, whereon it began to scream ; and,
pointing to the door, gave us to understand that it
had seen something frightful.

Some time before she awoke, she told us that the
good spirit would not return till she was able to go

272 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

to the castle ; the huntsman had told her so. Now,
on the 20th, the bright form said he would come on
the following morning — which he did, and told her
that, if she could not go to the castle till the 15th of
February, he would come again. She described him
just as she had done in her former condition. On
the 15th, he appeared in company with the hunts-
man ; he told her he should not come again till she
was able to go with him ; and the huntsman said he
was now going to a better place, and should trouble
her no more.

She continued too weak to go to the castle, and
they never appeared again.

Shortly after the history of this good spirit, who

wished Mrs. H to go to the castle, became

known, a person, engaged in a public office here,
came to me — it was on the 9th August, 1827 — and
related to me the following circumstances : —

Ten years ago, when I lived in the nearest court to
this, I was disturbed, day and night, by something
invisible opening and shutting the doors, and running
up and down the steps ; even my children were well
acquainted with these sounds, and we were quite
accustomed to them; but we never saw anything.
As I was appointed to a situation here, I took a
small house on the city wall, which lies on the road
to the castle. Here we continued to hear the steps ;
but, in a short time, the hitherto invisible became
visible. One night I saw, standing at the foot of my
bed, the form of a man, apparently about sixty years

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 273

^id ; he had on a round hat, grey clothes, and boots
with spurs, and seemed to be a person of condition.
He said to me, speaking with difficulty — ' Come
with me to the castle/ I could not answer him.
From that time this spirit went about my house by
day and night, and often spoke to me. I learned
that he was in trouble about something that he had
hidden in a vault, the entrance to which is at the
foot of the wall; and that he was in some way
bound to somebody hy an oath. Once he appeared
to me by day, saying — ' Come with me to the castle
at ten o'clock to-night/ I promised him ; and, at
the appointed time, I set out. When I reached the
small gate, I espied somebody coming towards me
from the Round Tower. I took this for a living
person ; and, afraid of being questioned as to what I
was doing there at so late an hour, I turned back.
The person turned also towards the prison, and I
then perceived it was the spectre, and that he was
followed by an ill-formed dark figure, whom he
seemed to avoid. He uttered a groan that went to
my heart ,* but I had not resolution to fulfil my first
intention. Since then, I have never either heard or
seen anything of the sort in my house."

This is the relation of a very simple honest man ;
and its connexion with the former story cannot be

overlooked. Mrs. H had never heard of this

man nor of his adventure.

If many things in the above relations appear in-
credible, what we are now about to mention will

274 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

appear much more so ; and those who find it impos-
sible to believe what occurred to Mrs. H , will

reject, with still more disgust, the following story.
But those who have read in a different spirit, and
are prepared to believe in the existence of a world
of spirits amongst us, will not fail to remark the
singular coincidences in those stories, especially with
respect to the modes taken by the spirits to draw the
attention of mortals, these differing not in kind, but
in degree. The persons to whom these circumstances
occurred were in perfect health, and had nothing
whatever to do with magnetism or sleep- wakers.
Councillor Hahn of Ingelfingen, wrote down this
account in the Castle of Slawensick, in Silesia^-
which has since been destroyed by lightning — in the
year 1808, being himself an eye-witness to the
facts ; and he communicated them to me in the year
1828:—

" After the campaign of the Prussians against the
French in 1806, the reigning Prince of Hohenlohe
gave orders to Councillor Hahn, who was in his
service, to proceed to Slawensick, and there to awaifc
his return. His Serene Highness advanced from
Liegnitz towards his principality, and Halm also
commenced his journey, towards Upper Silesia, on
the 1 9th November. At the same period, Charles
Kern, of Kiinzelsau, who had fallen into the hands
of the French, being released on parole, and arriving
at Liegnitz in a helpless condition, he was allowed
to spend some time with Hahn, whilst awaiting his

OCCURRENCES AT WETNSBERG. 275

exchange. ' Hahn and Kern had been friends in
their youth, and their destinies having brought them
both at this time into the Prussian States, they were
lodged together in the same apartment of the castle,
which was one on the first floor, forming an angle at
the back of the building, one side looking towards
the norths and the other to the east. On the
right of the door of this room was a glass-door,
which led into a chamber divided from those which
followed by a wainscot partition. The door in this
wainscotj which communicated to these adjoining
rooms, was entirely closed up, because in them all
sorts of household utensils were kept. Neither in
this chamber, nor in the sitting-room which pre-
ceded it, was there any opening whatever which
could furnish the means of communication from
without ; nor was there anybody in the castle be-
sides the two friends, except the Prince's two coach-
men, and Hahn's servant. The whole party were
fearless people ; and, as for Hahn and Kern, they
believed in n9thing less than ghosts or witches, nor
had any previous experience induced them to turn
their thoughts in that direction. Hahn, during his
collegiate life, had been much given to philosophy —
had listened to Fichte, and earnestly studied the
writings of Kant. The result of his reflections was
a pure materialism ; and he looked upon created
man, not as an aim, but merely as a means to a yet
undeveloped end. These opinions he has since
changed, like many others who think very difier-
ently in their 40th year to what they did in their

276 THE SEERESS OP PREVORST.

20th. The particulars here given are necessary, iki
order to obtain credence for the following extraordin-
ary narrative ; and to establish the fact, that the
phenomena were not merely accepted by ignorant
superstition, but coolly and courageously investigated
by enlightened minds. During the first days of
their residence in the castle, the two friends, living
together in solitude, amused their long evenings with
the works of Schiller, of whom they were both great
admirers; and Hahn usually read aloud. Three
days had thus passed quietly away, when, as they
were sitting at the table, which stood in the middle
of the room, about nine o'clock in the evening, their
reading was interrupted by a small shower of lime,
which fell around them. They looked at the ceiling,
concluding it must have come thence, but could per-
ceive no abraded parts ; and, whilst they were yet
seeking to ascertain whence the lime had proceeded,
there suddenly fell several larger pieces, which were
quite cold, and appeared as if they had belonged to
the external wall. At length, concluding the lime
must have fallen from some part of the wall, and
giving up farther inquiry, they went to bed, and
slept quietly till morning, when, on awaking, they
were somewhat surprised at the quantity which
strewed the floor, more especially as they could still
discover no part of the walls or ceiling from which
it could have fallen. But they thought no more of
the matter till evening, when, instead of the lime
falling, as before, it was thrown, and several pieces
struck Hahn ; at the same time, they heard heavy

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 277

Mows, sometimes below, and sometimes over their
heads, like the sound of distant guns ; still, attri-
buting these sounds to natural causes, they went to
bed as usual; but the uproar prevented their sleep-
ing, and each accused the other of occasioning it by
kicking with his feet against the foot-board of his
bed ; till, finding that the noise continued when they
both got out and stood together in the middle of the
room, they were satisfied that this was not the case.
On the following evening, a third noise was added,
which resembled the faint and distant beating of a
drum. Upon this, they requested the governess of
the castle to sen,d them the key of the apartments
above and below, which was brought them by her
son ; and, whilst he and Kern went to make their
investigations, Hahn remained in their own room.
Above^ they found an empty room, below, a kitchen.
They knocked, but the noise they made was very
different to that which Hahn continued all the while
to hear around him. When they returned, Hahn
said, jestingly, ' The place is haunted!' On this
night, when they went to bed with a light burning,
they heard what seemed like a person walking about
the room with slippers on, and a stick, with which
he struck the floor as he moved step by step. Hahn
continued to jest, and Kern to laugh, at the oddness
of these circumstances for some time, when they
both, as usual, fell asleep, neither in the slightest
degree disturbed by these events, nor inclined to
attribute them to any supernatural cause. But, on
the following evening, the affair became more inex-

278 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

plicable : various articles in the room were thrown
about ; knives, forks, brushes^ caps, slippers, pad-
locksj funnel, snuffers, soap — every thing, in short,
that was moveable ; whilst lights darted from corner
to corner, and every thing was in confusion ; at the
sametime the lime fell, and the blows continued.
Upon thisj the two friends called up the servants,
Knittel, the castle watch, and whoever else was at
hand, to be witnesses of these mysterious operations.
In the morning, all was quiet, and generally con-
tinued so till about an hour after midnight. One
evening, Kern going into the above-mentioned
chamber to fetch something, and hearing such an
uproar that it almost drove him backwards to the
door, Hahn caught up the light, and both rushed
into the room, where they found a large piece of
wood lying' close to the wainscot. But, supposing
this to be the cause of the noise, who had set it in
motion ? for Kern was sure the door was shut, even
whilst the noise was making ; neither had there
been any wood in the room. Frequently, before
their eyes, the knives and snuffers rose from the
table, and fell, after some minutes, to the ground ;
and Hahn's large shears were once lifted in this
manner between him and one of the Prince's cooks,
and, falling to the ground, stuck into the floor. As
some nights, however, passed quite quietly, Hahn
was determined not to leave the rooms ; but when,
for three weeks, the disturbance was so constant that
they could get no rest, they resolved on removing
their beds into the large room above, in hopes of

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 279

once more enjoying a little quiet sleep. Their hopes
were vain — the thumping continued as before ; and
not only so, but articles flew about the room which
they were quite sure they had left below. ^ They
may fling as they will/ cried Hahn, ^ sleep I
must ; * whilst Kern began to undress, pondering on
these matters as he walked up and down the room.
Suddenly Hahn saw him stand, as if transfixed, be-
fore the looking-glass, on which he had accidentally
cast his eyes. He had so stood for some minutes,
when he was seized with a violent trembling, and
turned from the mirror with his face as white as
death. Hahn, fancying the cold of the uninhabited
room had seized him, hastened to throw a cloak
over him ; when Kern, who was naturally very
courageous, recovered himself, and related, though
with trembling lips, that, as he had accidentally
looked in the glass, he had seen a white female
figure looking out of it ; she was in front of his own
image, which he distinctly saw behind her. At
first, he could not believe his eyes ; he thought it
must be fancy, and for that reason he had stood so
long ; but when he saw that the eyes of the figure
moved, and looked into his, a shudder had seized
him, and he had turned away. Hahn, upon this,
advanced with firm steps to the front of the mirror,
and called upon the apparition to shew itself to him ;
but he saw nothing, although he remained a quarter
of an hour before the glass, and frequently repeated
his exhortation. Kern then further related, that the
features of the apparition were very old, but not

280 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

gloomy or morose ; the expression, indeed, was
rather that of indifference ; but the face was very
pale, and the head was wrapt in a cloth which left
only the features visible.

'• By this time, it was four o'clock in the morning
— sleep was banished from their eyes — and they
resolved to return to the lower room, and have their
beds brought back again ; but the people who were
sent to fetch them returned, declaring they could not
open the door, although it did not appear to be fas-
tened. They were sent back again ; but a second,
and a third time they returned, with the same answer.
Then Hahn went himself, and opened it with the
greatest ease. The four servants, however, solemnly
declared, that all their united strengths could make
no impression on it,

" In this way a month had elapsed r the strange
events at the castle had got spread abroad ; and,
amongst others who desired to convince themselves
of the facts, were two Bavarian officers of dragoons
— namely. Captain Cornet and Lieutenant Magerle,
of the regiment of Minuci. Magerle offering to
remain in the room alone, the others left him ; but
scarcely had they passed into the next apartment,
when they heard Magerle storming like a man in a
passion, and cutting away at the tables and chairs
with his sabre ; whereupon the Captain thought it
advisable to return, in order to rescue the furniture
from his rage. They found the door shut, but he
opened it on their summons ; and related, in great
excitement, that as soon as they had quitted the

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 281

room, some cursed thing had begun to fling lime,
and other matters at him ; and having examined
every part of the room, without being able to dis-
cover the agent of the mischief, he had fallen into a
rage, and cut madly about him.

" The party now passed the rest of the evening
together in the room ; and the two Bavarians closely
watched Hahn and Kern, in order to satisfy them-
selves that the mystery was no trick of theirs. All
at once, as they were quietly sitting at the table, the
snuffers rose into the air, and fell again to the ground,
behind Magerle ; and a leaden ball flew at Hahn,
and hit him upon the breast ; and presently after-
wards, they heard a noise at the glass-door, as if
somebody had struck his fist through it, together
with a sound of falling glass. On investigation,
they found the door entire, but a broken drinking-
glass on the floor. By this time the Bavarians were
convinced, and they retired from the room, to seek
repose in one more peaceful.

" Amongst other strange circumstances, the fol-
lowing, which occurred to Hahn, is remarkable. One
evening, about eight o'clock, being about to shave
himself, the implements for the purpose, which were
lying on a pyramidal stand in a corner of the room,
flew at him, one after the other — the soap-box, the
razor, the brush, and the soap — and fell at his feet,
although he was standing several paces from the
pyramid. He and Kern, who was sitting at the
table, laughed ; for they were now so accustomed to
these events^ that they only made them subjects of

282 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

diversion. In the meantime, Halm poured some
water, which had been standing on the stove, in a
basin, observing, as he dipped his finger into it, that
it was of a nice heat for shaving. He seated him-
self before the table, and strapped his razor; but
when he attempted to prepare the lather, the water
had clean vanished out of the basin. Another time,
Hahn was awakened by the goblins throwing at him
a squeezed-up piece of sheet-lead, in which tobacco
had been wrapped ; and, when he stooped to pick it
up, the self-same piece was flung at him again.
When this was repeated a third time, Hahn flung a
heavy stick at his invisible assailant.

'^ Dorfel, the book-keeper, was frequently a wit-
ness to these strange events. He once laid his cap
on the table by the stove ; when, being about to
depart, he sought for it, it had vanished. Four or
five times he examined the table in vain ; presently
afterwards, he saw it lying exactly where he had
placed it when he came in. On the same table,
Knittel having once placed his cap, and drawn him-
self a seat, suddenly — although there was nobody
near the table — he saw it flying through the room to
his feet, where it fell.

^^ Hahn now determined to find out the secret
himself, and for this purpose, seated himself, with
two lights before him, in a position where he could
see the whole of the room, and all the windows and
doors it contained; but the same things occurred
even when Kern was out, the servants in the stables,
and nobody in the castle but himself; and the

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 283

snuffers were as usual flung about, although the
closest observation could not detect by whom.

" The forest-master, Radezensky, spent a night in
the room ; but although the two friends slept, he
could get no rest. He was bombarded without in-
termission, and in the morning, his bed was found
full of all manner of household articles.

" One evening, in spite of all the drumming and
flinging, Hahn was determined to sleep ; but a heavy
blow on the wall, close to his bed, soon waked him
from his slumbers. A second time he went to sleep,
and was awaked by a sensation, as if some person
had dipped his finger in water, and was sprinkling
his face with it. He pretended to sleep again, whilst
he watched Kern and Knittel, who were sitting at
the table ; the sensation of sprinkling recurred, but
he could find no water on his face.

'^ About this time, Hahn had occasion to tlake a
journey as far as Breslau ; and when he returned,
he heard the strangest story of all. In order not to
be alone in this mysterious chamber, Kern had en-
gaged Hahn s servant — a man of about forty years
of age, and of entire singleness of character — to stay
with him. One night, as Kern lay in bed, and this
man was standing near the glass-door in conversa-
tion with him, to his utter amazement, he beheld a
jug of beer, which stood on a table in the room at
some distance from him, slowly lifted to a height of
about three feet, and the contents poured into a glass,
that was standing there also, until the latter was

284 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

half-full. The jug was then gently replaced, and
the glass lifted and emptied, as by some one drink-
ing ; whilst John, the servant, exclaimed, in terrified
surprise, ' Lord Jesus ! it swallows/ The glass was
quietly replaced, and not a drop of beer was to be
found on the floor. Hahn was about to require an
oath of John, in confirmation of this fact ; but for-
bore, seeing how ready the man was to take one,
and satisfied of the truth of the relation.

" One night Knetsch, an inspector of the works,
passed the night with the two friends ; and, in spite
of the unintermitting flinging, they all three went
to bed. There were lights in the room ; and pre-
sently, all three saw two napkins, in the' middle of
the room, rise slowly up to the ceiling, and having
there spread themselves out, flutter down again.
The china bowl of a pipe, belonging to Kern, flew
about, •and was broken. Knives and forks were
flung ; and at last one of the latter fell on Hahn's
head, though fortunately with the handle downwards;
and, having now endured this annoyance for two
months, it was unanimously resolved to abandon this
mysterious chamber, for this night at all events.
John and Kern took up one of the beds, and carried
it into the opposite room ; but they were no sooner
gone, than a pitcher for holding chalybeate-water
flew to the feet of the two who remained behind,
although no door was open, and a brass candlestick
was flung to the ground. In the opposite room the
night passed quietly, although some sounds still

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 285

issued from the forsakeu cliamber. After this, there
was a cessation to these strange proceedings, and
nothing more remarkable occurred, with the excep-
tion of the following circumstance : — Some weeks
after the above-mentioned removal, as Hahn was
returning home^ and crossing the bridge that leads
to the castle gate, he heard the foot of a dog behind
him. He looked round, and called repeatedly on
the name of a greyhound that was much attached to
him, thinking it might be her ; but although he still
heard the foot, even when he ascended the stairs, as
he could see nothing, he concluded it was an illusion.
Scarcely, however, had he set his foot within the
room, than Kern advanced and took the door out of
his hand, at the same time, calling the dog by name ;
adding, however, immediately, that he thought he
had seen the dog, but that he had no sooner called
her than she disappeared. Hahn then inquired, if
he had really seen the dog. ' Certainly I did/ re-
plied Kern ; ' she was close behind you — half within
the door — and that was the reason I took it out of
your hand, lest, not observing her, you should have
shut it suddenly, and crushed her. It was a white
dog, and I took it for Flora.' Search was imme-
diately made for the dog, but she was found locked
up in the stable, and had not been out of it the whole
day. It is certainly remarkable — even supposing
Hahn to have been deceived with respect to the
footsteps — that Kern should have seen a white dog
behind him, before he had heard a word on the sub-

286 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

ject from his friend, especially as there was no such
animal in the neighbourhood ; besides, it was not yet
dark, and Kern was very sharp-sighted.

" Hahn remained in the castle for half a year
after this, without experiencing any thing extra-
ordinary ; and even persons who had possession of
the mysterious chambers, were not subjected to any
annoyance.

" The riddle, however, in spite of all the perqui-
sitions and investigations that were set on foot, re-
mained unsolved — no explanation of these strange
events could be found ; and even supposing any
motive could exist, there was nobody in the neigh-
bourhood clever enough to have carried on such a
system of persecution, which lasted so long, that the
inhabitants of the chamber became almost indifferent
to it."

In conclusion, it is only necessary to add, that
Councillor Hahn wrote down this account for his
own satisfaction, with the strictest regard to truth.
His words are —

" I have described these events exactly as I heard
and saw them ; from beginning to end, I observed
them with the most entire self-possession. I had no
fear, nor the slightest tendency to it ; yet the whole
thing remains to me perfectly inexplicable.

" Written the 19th November 1808.

" Augustus Hahn, Councillor"

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 287

Doubtless, many natural explanations of these
phenomena will be suggested, by those who consider
themselves above the weakness of crediting stories
of this description. Some say that Kern was a
dextrous juggler^ who contrived to throw dust in the
eyes of his friend Hahn ; whilst others affirm, that
both Hahn and Kern were intoxicated every even-
ing. I did not fail to communicate these objections
to Hahn, and here insert his answer.

" After the events alluded to, I resided with Kern
for a quarter of a year, in another part of the castle
of Slawensick, (which has been since struck by light-
ning, and burnt,) without finding a solution of the
mystery, or experiencing a repetition of the annoy-
ance, which discontinued from the moment we quitted
those particular apartments. Those persons must
suppose me very weak, who can imagine it possible,
that with only one companion, I could have been
the subject of his sport for two months, without de-
tecting him. As for Kern himself, he was, from the
first, very anxious to leave the rooms ; but as I was
unwilling to resign the hope of discovering some
natural cause for these phenomena, I persisted in
remaining ; and the thing that at last induced me to
yield to his wishes, was his vexation at the loss of
his china pipe, which had been flung against the wall
and broken. Besides, jugglery requires a juggler,
and I was frequently quite alone when these events
occurred. It is equally absurd to accuse us of in -

288 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

toxication. The wine there was too dear^ for us to
drink it at all ; and we confined ourselves wholly to
weak beer. All the circumstances that happened
are not set down in the narration ; but my recollec-
tion of the whole is as vivid as if it had occurred
yesterday. We had also many witnesses, some of
whom have been mentioned. Councillor Klenk also
visited me at a later period, with every desire to in-
vestigate the mystery ; and when, one morning, he
had mounted on a table, for the purpose of doing so,
and was knocking at the ceiling with a stick, a
powder-horn fell upon him, which he had just before
left on the table in another room. At that time,
Kern had been for some time absent. I neglected
no possible means^ that could have led to a discovery
of the secret; and at least as many people have
blamed me, for my unwillingness to believe in a
supernatural cause, as the reverse. Fear is not my
failing, as all who are acquainted with me know ;
and, to avoid the possibility of error, I frequently
asked others what they saw, when I was myself
present; and their answers always coincided with
what I saw myself. From 1809 to 1811, I lived in
Jacobswald, very near the castle, where the prince
himself was residing. I am aware that some singu-
lar circumstances occurred whilst he was there ; but,
as I did not witness them myself, I cannot speak of
them more particularly.

" I am still as unable as ever to account for those
events ; and I am content to submit to the hasty

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 289

remarks of the world, kD owing that I have only
related the truth, and what many persons now alive
witnessed, as well as myself,

^' Councillor Hahn."^
'^ Ingelfingen, 24ifA August ] 828."

We now return to the apparitions seen by Mrs.
H .

On the 8th of October 1828, at nine o'clock, in
the evening — she being in bed, and her mother, sister,
and a Mrs. Mensch, (who did not believe in ghosts,)
in the anteroom — the door of her room suddenly
opened^ without any apparent cau'se, and the spectre
of a man that she had seen before, but not lately,
entered the room. It advanced to her bedside, and
stood calmly looking at her. The persons in the
ante-room were only made conscious of the spectre's
proximity, by a sensation of strange uneasiness ; but

Mrs. H afterwards related, that she saw it walk

round them in a half-circle. Immediately after-
wards, Mrs. M felt a blow under her chair^ that

seemed to lift it from the ground, whilst she cried

aloud for help. The sister of Mrs. H , although

she did not see the spectre with her eyes, saw it, as
she described, from within, and was able to describe
it. She added, that it appeared to her that the
shade had thoughts which were communicated to

* After the destruction of the castle by lightning, when the
ruins were removed, there was found the skeleton of a man,
without a coffin. His skull had been split, and a sword lay by
his side.

T

290 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

Ler, and which moved her with pity. From the de-
scription of this very simple girl, I thus understood
how ghost-seers perceive spectres : it is not by mean&
of the ordinary organs of sight, but by inspira-
tion as it were — a magnetic awakening of the spirit
within.

Mrs. H did not mention the name of this

spectre, w^hom she only recognized by his having, on
a former occasion, spoken of his son, with whom she
was acquainted. On the following night, the mother

and sister of Mrs. H dreamt that Mr. N

had appeared to them, and said something about hi&
son. This was the name of the spectre ; and they
both dreamed the same dream. When they related

their dream on the following morning, Mrs. H ,

for the first time, told them who the spectre was.
In the ensuing night, Mrs. Mensch, who was resid-

ino* in the same house with Mrs. H , was awak-

ened by a sensation that something v/as touching her,
and she saw beside her bed the figure of a man, with
a pocket-handkerchief in his hand, with which he
appeared to have touched her. Being alarmed, she
sprang out of her own bed into that of her husband,

which was close by. When Mrs. M- described

this apparition to Mrs. H , she recognized it for

the same spectre by the pocket-handkerchief, with
which he had always appeared. On naming him to

Mrs. M , she learned what she had never had

the slightest suspicion of — namely, that he was a
near relation of that lady.

On the 8th December, at seven o'clock, being

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 291

myself in the anteroom, from which I could see

into Mrs. H 's bedroom, I perceived there a

cloud-like form — a sort of pillar of cloud — with a
head, but no defined outline. I hastily caught up a
candle, and, rushing into the room, found her with
her eyes staring on the spot where I had seen the
figure ; but to me it was no longer visible. This
would naturally be the consequence of the bright
light. The room was previously but imperfectly
lighted, and the white cloud-like form was more
perceptible on the dark ground. When I inquired
what she was looking at, she replied, that the spectre
of N : had been there, and given her a commis-
sion to his son. She expressed her surprise that this
spectre had been able to render himself visible to so
many persons. This apparition I partly saw ; and
it is the only one I ever did see.

SEVENTH FACT.

The Reverend Mr. H had frequently men-
tioned to me, the inexplicable noises heard in his
house at night, as of knocking, rolling of a ball,
breathing close to his bed, &c. ; and especially the
footsteps of a man, and the simultaneous opening of
the door of his chamber. These steps he had fre-
quently followed, but without ever discovering their
cause ; and he, moreover, remarked, that these noises
were more perceptible immediately before the death
of any of his children, of whom he lost many.

Being appointed to another cure, he quitted the

292 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

place, without having communicated these circum-
stances to Mr. R , the gentleman appointed to

succeed him. But no sooner had the latter estab-
lished himself in the house, than he found himself
disturbed in the same manner, whilst his endeavours
to discover the cause of them were equally unsuc-
cessful. A female meniber of the family, however,
declared, that she had been met by a dark form^ and
had been awakened by such an one appearing to her
in the night. It is a very remarkable circumstance,
that the sister of Mrs. H (whom we have men-
tioned as possessing the faculty of ghost-seeing)
having once slept in this house, dreamed that a tall
dark form stood before her, and that she had felt

herself impelled to cry, " R sch ! away from

me ! " whereupon she awoke; but saw nothing. On

relating this to the Reverend Mr. R in the

morning, he referred to the church-register, where
he found that a person of that name had actually
inhabited the house about sixty years before — a
circumstance quite unknown, both to him and to

Mrs. H 's sister.

We have frequently mentioned, in these pages,
the influence of the presence of spectres on sleepers.

EIGHTH FACT.

Mrs. W von H , a lady of education,

and remarkable presence of mind, had been eight
days in the house with the Seherin, whilst the latter
was visited by spectres, without either seeing or

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 203

feeling any thing of them, although she frequently
heard them. On the ninth morning, however, she
related to me what follows : — "It was eleven o'clock

at night, and I was sitting by Mrs. H 's bedside,

who was lying quite still, when I was suddenly
seized by a most unaccountable feeling of anxiety
and oppression ; insomuch, that without saying a
word, I hastily undressed myself, and leaving my
clothes on the floor, I jumped into bed, and covered
my head with the counterpane. Presently collecting
myself, however, although the oppression still con-
tinued, I sat up, and looked round the room. There
was nothing to be seen, but as I lay down again,
something invisible drew the pillow from under my
head, and laid it on my face. I replaced it, and the
same thing occurred ; and there was afterwards a
continual pulling at the bed-covering. As I saw
Mrs. H lyiiig quietly the whole time, and ap-
parently asleep, I said nothing to her on the subject ;
but when, in the morning, I saw my clothes on a
chair by my bedside, I could not help expressing my
surprise, certain as I was that I had left them on the

floor — that Mrs. H was not able to put her foot

out of bed — and that no person whatever had been

in the room. But Mrs. H answered me, " When

you left your clothes on the floor, there was a dark
spirit in the room, and I saw him lift them, and lay
them on the chair. He took no notice of me, but
occupied himself wholly with you ; but I said no-
thing, lest I should alarm you."

294 THE SEERESS OF FREVORSTr

NINTH FACT.

In August 1 828, two spirits frequented Mrs. H ^

of whose appearance she made a secret. She said^
she was forbidden to tell their names, and I should
have remained in ignorance of them, but for the
following circumstances : — On entering her room, on
the 11th August, she came to me in great agitation;
and when I pressed her to tell me the cause, she
confessed that one of these — one who had died here
— had just appeared to her, and had desired her * *
(Here followed a revelation, to be made to one still
on earth.) The spectre appeared to her in a great-
coat, boots, and cap, but without a neckcloth ; and
although she had never seen him, she described him
exactly, as she did also his companion, who had been
his friend when alive. They afterwards appeared in
white robes, looking like thin clouds, through which
the blue sky was shining.

She told me that no spectres had moved her so
much as these. They were weighed down by no
crime, but they had doubted, and been infirm of
faith ; and at last, when conviction had come, in
their dying moments, they had despaired of pardon.
Of all this I should have learned nothing, had it
not been necessary that I should fulfil the commis-
sion ; which I did.

At my request, she afterwards made the following
inquiry of one of these spirits : — " In your present
state, do you still pursue your researches into na-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 295

ture?" He answered, "Yes; but in a different,
and inexpressibly higher manner than I did on
earth."

When I had performed th^ commission, he who
had given it appeared in a brighter shape, and told
her it was for the last time. As she said nothing
of his companion, I concluded he had also left her ;
but after her apparent waking, I was surprised to
hear her say, on the 23d September, that a spectre
— whom, by her description, I recognized to be the
friend — had appeared to her, reproaching her with
not having done what he desired, and bidding her
compensate this neglect by a special prayer. From
what she told me, at a later period, I recognized
this spirit to be that of a relation of my own, whom
I had only once, (and that in my childhood,) and
she never, seen. The commission was to me ; and
she had forborne, from timidity, to communicate it.
I then directed her to inquire his name, and to learn
the periods of his birth and death ; and, as we have
related, in a former part of this volume, our inves-
tigations confirmed the information she obtained.

On the night of the 15th of October, this spirit
appeared to her for the last time ; he said, he was
now in a happy place, and vanished, saying, ^^ Die
in the faith of your loving Father, Redeemer, and
Mediator, (to which he added something she could
not remember) and cast away all that may impede
you."

296 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

TENTH FACT.

On the night of the 8th October 1828, the girl
from Lbwenstein, who had the faculty of seeing

spectres, slept in Mrs. H 's antechamber ; and

in the morning, she related to me, that, between
twelve and one, the door had opened and shut, and
a man had entered with a black coat on, and a sandy-
grey face. He looked sadly, and passed quietly

through to Mrs. H 's room. Presently came

another, shorter and thicker ; and then a third, also
in a black coat. They did not stay long with Mrs*

H , but shortly returned. She sat up in bed,

to look at them, but could not speak ; and the door
opened and closed, each time one passed through.

Mrs. H had seen them, but merely as cloudy

forms, and without black coats. They came to in-
quire the way to salvation, but &he had bade them
address themselves to their Redeemer.

On the night of the 9th, the girl saw another

spectre enter Mrs. H 's room, whom the latter

informed us was an inhabitant of this place, and
not long deceased ; on which account, for the sake
of his friends, she did not name him. From this
spirit she learned, that in the middle-state, those of
a similar disposition associate with each other; and
also that they are not able to see all persons, but
only one here and there — and then, only in the dark
hues in which they see every thing.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 297

ELEVENTH FACT.

Extract from a letter addressed to me by Mr.
Pfleiderer : —

'' In the month of June 1827, I was requested by
my principal, Mr Schmiedgall of Lowenstein, to
remain some days with his niece at Weinsberg,
who was then extremely ill, for the purpose of
superintending the application of his prescriptions,
which he was then unable to do himself. I slept on

a sofa in the sitting-room, and Mrs. H in a

smaller room adjoining ; and, from the very first
night I lay there, I was awakened regularly, be-
tween the hours of one and two, by an indescribable
feeling of fear and oppression — a circumstance which
had never occurred to me before. On the sixth day,
I was called home, and there the same thing con-
tinued ; but, on the first night I returned to Weins-
berg, I was awakened, not only by oppression, but
by a sensation of being shaken."

[J must here interrupt the narrative of Mr P. for
the purpose of mentioning, that, at this time, Mrs*

H had secretly told me, begging me not to

speak of it to Mr. P., that nightly, between the
hours of one and two, she observed, through the
open door, a male figure approach and hang over
Mr. P., who thereon awoke, whilst the spectre made
strange signs to him with its finger. As this awaken-
ing was increasing, and Mr P. had consulted me on
the subject, I referred him to Mrs. H , and re-
commended her to tell him what she had seen.]

298 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

" As this awakening was becoming more and
more annoying, and I had complained of it, Mrs.

H told me^ that nightly, between eleven and

twelve, she saw a tall dark form, in a frock and
boots, who approached within some paces of my bed,
and pointed to me with his fore-finger ; then he drew
nearer, and hung over me, and, when I awakened,
seemed to beckon me with his finger. In order to
prove the truth of this intelligence, I resolved to
watch one night ; and, having provided myself with

a companion, I requested Mrs. H to call to me

when she saw the spectre.

" At the usual hour, being awake, and in conver-
sation with my friend, I felt the above-mentioned
oppression, and, at the same time, was sensible of an
unaccustomed air blowing upon me. I had not said
a syllable on the subject, but was just on the point

of asking Mrs. H if the spirit was there,

when she called to me that he was. Then I ad-
dressed the spectre, bidding him, in the name of
God, tell me who he was, and what I could do to
serve him. I had no sooner uttered these words,
however, than the oppression ceased; and I heard

Mrs. H say — ' I forbid you to advance a step

further.' She told me that, when I spoke, the spirit
had left me and gone towards her ,* and that she had
heard him say, as he disappeared — ' This was one of
my scholars.'

" By Mrs. H 's farther description, I ascer-
tained this to have been an old teacher of mine,
whose character and history I cannot further dis-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 299

close. Mrs. H — — had never heard of the existence
of this man*

" For a quarter of a year after this^ wherever I
might be^ the same feelings recurred at the same
hour ; and, if I was asleep, I was inevitably awaken-
ed by it.

*' W. D. Pfleiderer.

"Heilbronn, 2{^th October 1838."

TWELFTH FACT.

A man, for whom Mrs. H had prescribed in

a case of delirium tremens, having died, he appeared
to her, as long as he lay in his house, in his coffin,
making revelations which he desired should be im-
parted to his wife. I was present at his death, and
observed how anxious he was to make some com-
munications after the power of speech had left him.
I pass over the revelations, only remarking that Mrs.

H told us that he expressed great anxiety about

one of his daughters. Four weeks afterwards, a tile
fell on her and fractured her skull ; and she under-
went a painful operation with such astonishing firm-
ness, and recovered so fast, that we might almost
imagine a protecting spirit was at hand supporting
her.

THIRTEENTH PACT.

On Christmas night, 1828, four spectres appeared
to Mrs. H 5 three men and a woman, who ap-

300 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

peared to be dancing. She said to them — " Are ye
really devils, that ye so profane this night ?" where-
upon they all vanished. On the 5th of February,
they appeared again at midnight, demeaning them-
selves as before, when she commanded them, in the
name of Jesus, to cease ; upon which they stood
motionless, and looked fixedly at her. Then she
cried to them — " Are you so well off that you dance
on this holy day? — and is it thus you shew your
gratitude to your Redeemer ?" At this they moaned
as if in pain, and begged her to abstain from them.
She asked them if they had no desire to elevate
themselves and become happy ; but they said their
sins forbade them; whereon she desired them to
leave her. They came again on the 1 3th, stood at
the door, and looked inquiringly at her ; and, when
she said — '' Praised be the name of Him whq died
on the cross \" they cried — " Yea," and vanished.

These spectres frequented her for a considerable
time, and she often prayed with them. Latterly,
they were accompanied by a brighter form, and they
themselves appeared in the robes that signified an
amendment in their condition, though they were yet
dark. At length they took leave of her, saying
they were now able to assist themselves, with the
aid of happy spirits.

FOURTEENTH FACT.

On the 10th November 1827, Mrs. H told

me that, since her awakening, (she did not know

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 301

whether she had seen him before,) she was visited
by the spectre of a young man, who said he had died
in the neighbourhood, and wished her to make some
revelation to his parents and sisters. She bade him
do it himself; but he answered that he could not,
and persevered in his entreaties. On the 2 1st, he
appeared, and begged that, on the following night,
she would read to him a certain hymn. When he
came for that purpose, he was accompanied by an
aged female spectre, from whom shone so bright a
light, that, although it was quite dark, she could see
to read the hymn, which she otherwise did not know.
She said she believed that this light, in which good
spirits shone, was hidden in all good men, but not
yet developed. I should not have heard of this
spectre, had I not chanced to mention to Mrs.

H that, some years before, a youth had died in

the house she was then inhabiting. This alarmed
her, and led her to mention the apparition ; but, by
her description, I perceived it was not him, but one
who really died in the neighbourhood, as he said.
A few weeks afterwards, a circumstance occurred in
his family, which fully justified his anxiety and ex-
plained the signification of the hymn he had selected.

FIFTEENTH FACT.

On the 20th November 1829, at eleven in the
morning, Mrs. H 's deceased brother, Henry, ap-
peared to her, saying only — " Think of our mother ! "
She was seized with convulsions ; and, when she re-

302 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

covered, she related what had happened, and ex-
pressed fears for her mother's safety. At this time,
neither she, nor any of us, knew that her mother
was on the way to visit her daughter ; but two
hours afterwards she arrived, in extreme terror, say-
ing that she had escaped a great danger, the horses
having run away on a steep mountain. I ascertain-
ed from the driver that the accident had occurred
precisely at eleven o'clock.

SIXTEENTH FACT.

For five weeks, unknown to me, Mrs. H was

visited by my lately deceased friend P., who had.
taken great interest in her, and who had frequently
visited her to obtain information with respect to the
middle-state, in which he was a firm believer. He
did not appear sad, but rather comforted by the
certainty of attaining happiness. She begged him
to make himself visible, or audible, to me, and he
promised the latter. On the same night that she
had made this request, I was suddenly seized by a
strange sensation, and, at the same time, heard some
inexplicable sounds in our quiet bed-chamber. I
knew nothing of this request, nor she of my sensa-
tions, till she afterwards told me of P.'s visits, and
that he had given her a commission for his son. She
observed that she had never seen the hair of the un-
blessed spirits, but that that of the happy ones was
visible.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 303

SEVENTEENTH PACT.

Amongst other spirits, Mrs. H was visited,

in February 1828, by two youths^ one of whom, by
her description, I recognized for a person not long
dead, but whom she had never seen. They request-
ed her prayers ; and one of them said that he was
always near his mother, whom he could not leave.
This person — the mother — knew nothing whatever

of Mrs. H , nor of this apparition ; yet she often

told me that she felt her son was always near her,
and that she had frequently seen him ; and one day
she added that she had seen him in a dream, looking
brighter and happier, and that he had taken leave of
her. T mentioned this to nobody whatever, and

Mrs. H had assuredly no means of hearing

of this dream ; I was, therefore, greatly surprised
the next day, when, happening to call at a mo-
ment that this woman was passing the house, I

heard Mrs. H 's mother say — " If that woman

only knew what happened last night 1 " I inquired
what it was, when she mentioned that the youth had
appeared brighter than before, and said that he could

no longer remain near his mother. Mrs. H had

asked him if he should visit his mother no more, he
answered — '' Oh yes ; but now I must leave her."

EIGHTEENTH FACT.

On the 23d December 1828, at seven o'clock in
the evening, I was alone with Mrs. H , wlien

304 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the door suddenly opened as if a person had entered.
I went to look who he was, but could see nobody

either in the room or out of it. Mrs. H had,

however, seen a female enter in an antique costume,
who immediately departed. When next she came,
she walked silently about the room, and then slowly
rose, and departed through the open window. On
another occasion, I being present, the door opened
and shut visibly, when she entered. At length this
spectre also requested her prayers and instructions ;
and, after about four months, she became brighter,
ceased to disappear by the window, and finally dis-
continued her visits.

NINETEENTH FACT.

On the night of the 23d December 1828, at two
o'clock, I was awakened by an extraordinary and
indescribable sensation, as if I were in a wholly
different atmosphere. It lasted, however, but a
short time, and I fell asleep again. When I called
on Mrs. H in the morning, she immediately in-
quired whether, at two o'clock, I had been visited by
a spirit. I told her what I had felt ; whereon she
said, with timidity — ^' You are always asking for
proofs of the reality of these apparitions. Last
night, a dark spirit came to me, and I said nothing
to him except, ' I command you to go directly to
my physician/ he answered, ' I will/ and disap-
peared."

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 305

TWENTIETH FACT.

On the 9th December 1828, eight months after
the death of Mrs. H — — 's father, her waiting-
maid, who slept in the anteroom, awakened at mid-
night, and heard the door of the room open. She

looked up, and saw the father of Mrs. H as

he lived, pass through the room with a friendly
aspect, saying — '' So, you are there." She saw him

as far as the door of Mrs. H 's room, when he

disappeared. He was not visible to Mrs. H ,

who slept calmly ; but related in the morning a
dream she had had of her father. It is remarkable
that, on the same night, he appeared to her brother
and sister, each living far from her, and from each
other. The latter called to her husband, who was
asleep, to awake and look at her father.

TWENTY-FIRST FACT.

At one time, for a whole week, as well by night

as day, Mrs. H frequently saw a dark male

figure near her maid-servant ; but she said nothing
on the subject, neither did the girl. On the night of
the 13th January 1829, this spectre came and bent
over the young woman's bed, whereon she sat up

and looked about her. Mrs. H— observed, but

said nothing ; and the girl silently lay down again.
In the morning, she related that she had seen a
greyish figure by her bedside, whose face was
brighter than the rest of the person. Mrs. H

306 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST,

never mentioned to any body but me that* she saw
the apparition.

TWENTY-SECOND FACT.

On Friday, March 20th, at nine o'clock at night,

Mrs. H being awake, there suddenly appeared

to her a female form in an ancient costume, holding
a human heart in her hand. She was extremely
frightened, and turned away her face till she felt
the figure had disappeared. This apparition made
so great an impression on her, that, in the morning,
she made a drawing of it. This drawing was litho-
graphed at the desire of Eschenmayer. Four nights
afterwards, she was awakened by a sound like the
running down of a church clock, and looking up
she saw the same figure with the heart in her hand,
whilst with the other she pointed to it and said, " This

was the larum." As Mrs. H never spoke with

this spectre, it is uncertain whether the following
circumstance is connected with her appearance: —
On the same 20th March, the persons living in
houses adjoining the cathedral at Oberstenfeld, were
alarmed by a loud noise, that seemed to proceed
from under the church. Investigations were imme-
diately made, but no cause for it discovered ; and
they found it impossible to open the vaults, though
they had the key, and the lock was generally easy
enough. On the following day, however, they did
not find the same difficulty ; and they found, on the
place that the spectre-knight had pointed out to Mrs.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 307

H y several rolls of parchment, containing genea-
logical tables of the ancient canonesses, on one of
which appeared the name of that knight's wife. I

refer to the first fact at Oberstenfeld. Mrs. H

often said that an unhappy female spirit was much
more terrific to her than a male. And it is not to
be denied, that the wickedness of an ill-disposed
woman is more inventive and dangerous than the
more open and direct mischief of an ill-disposed
man.

We have frequently mentioned that Mrs. H

had the power of exorcising spirits by means of
written words used as amulets ; and, however in-
credible these assertions may appear^ they are sub-
stantiated by the following facts. Let those who
doubt inquire of those to whom these things occurred;
but people pronounce upon them by their fire -sides,
without ever giving themselves the trouble.

FIRST FACT.

In Kleingartach there was an elderly woman
called Fritzlen, who was disturbed in an extraordin-
ary manner for twenty-four years. She was lying
awake when she first heard a cracking in her room,
which was followed by a blue light, and the appear-
ance of a creature something like a frog, which ap-
proached her bed and then vanished. Another
night she felt the hand of a child in hers, and, on
forcing her own away, she was oppressed as by a

308 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

great weight. From that time she was nightly dis-
turbed, generally first by the light, and afterwards
by the appearance of some strange living form, as
an owl, a cat, a frightful horse, &c. &c., till she was
reduced almost to despair.

As this woman referred me to her neighbours for
a confirmation of this story, I requested an ac-
quaintance of mine at Kleingartach to inquire into
it ; and he informed me that a very respectable
houest man, called Frederick Molle, as well as the
husband of Fritzlen, assured him of the truth of it.

Fritzlen, said Molle, having often lamented this
persecution, he agreed to let her pass a night in his
house, and that he would take her place. He did
so, and, about twelve o'clock, he saw a four-cornered
piece of paper rise and float over the bed, and then
descending, take the form of a little man about the
fourth of a foot high, who approached the bed. He
snatched at the figure, but could feel nothing ; and
the husband of Fritzlen struck at it repeatedly with
a sabre, but to no purpose. It remained upwards of
two hours, seeming to provoke them all the time,
and then vanished. Molle was determined to try
another night ; and then, about the same hour, there
appeared a creature like a frog, sitting on the pole
of the bed, its appearance being preceded by a
crackling noise and a bluish light. It repeatedly
pulled at the bed-covering ; and Fritzlen's husband
prayed and cursed, but it remained for two hours,
and then appeared to Fritzlen herself, in jVIolle's
house.

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 309

Respecting this last fact, we refer to Molle's wife,
who said that, about two o'clock, she heard several
strange noises, and the door of the room opened.
Fritzlen, at the same time, appearing very uneasy,
and breathing very hard, she nudged her in the side
to wake her, supposing she was suffering from a
dream ; but she (Fritzlen) said she was not asleep,
but that it was her persecutor, who was appearing in
the form of a huntsman, and pointing his gun at her.

After this, Molle's wife would consent to no more
experiments, lest they should bring this unpleasant
visiter to their own house.

Fritzlen knew nothing of Mrs. H ; and it was

by a mere accident that I was informed of her mis-
fortune. I sent her to Mrs. H , who gave her

an amulet, containing a word in the characters that
expressed her inner language. Some weeks after-^
wards, my acquaintance from Kleingartach wrote
me that the woman could not be sufficiently grateful
to God and to us for her relief. From that time the
evil ceased; and twelve months afterwards her daugh-
ter came to me, and requested only to see the house
whence her mother had derived a blessing which she
had vainly sought for so many years.

SECOND FACT.

In the month of March of the present year 1829,
there came to me an elderly man from Diembach,
accompanied by a boy about twelve years of age,
who related to me that, some months since, being in

310 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

the forest of Diembach with another boy, they had
climbed into an oak ; presently there arose a sort of
whirlwind, which was, however, confined to that
spot, as no tree stirred but that they were on. The
wind soon fell, and then they saw beneath the tree a
woman clothed in white, who beckoned them to go
with her. They descended and followed her, though
reluctantly ; but, at a certain spot, she suddenly dis-
appeared. " We stood still/* said the boy, " and
looked at each other."

I should have paid no attention to the relation of
this very simple child, but for the following circum-
stance : — On the 1 9th of May, there came to me the
wife of a poor day-labourer, called Kummerlin, from
Ellhofen, complaining that, for several years, her
husband had been subject to a strange sort of anxiety
and oppression, which would attack him repeatedly
in the course of the day, and gave him a feeling as if
something invisible were near him; at the same
time the doors of her cottage opened and shut with-
out any visible cause ; there was an unaccountable
sound of feet, and things were flung at her by an un-
seen hand. The husband confirmed all the wife
said; adding, that he was often awakened in the
night by something touching him, and pulling the

bed-clothes. I sent him to Mrs. H , and, whilst

he was speaking to her, he suddenly exclaimed —
" There now, it's coming on me again ! " and, at
the same moment, she saw standing beside him the
spectre of a woman in an antique but distinguished
attire* She turned her head from the spectre, and,,

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 311

when she looked again, it was gone. Upon this she
inquired of the man if he had ever seen a ghost ; to
which he answered, never but in his fifteenth year,
as he was passing with an old man through the forest
of Diembach, " there we saw a lady standing beside
a thing like a chest, near a young oak ; we both saw
her distinctly beckon to us, but, whilst we were
silently advancing towards her, she disappeared,
and, at the same time, we heard a noise like a heavy
blow on the chest." This man had not the slightest
acquaintance with the boy, who, at an interval of
several years, had apparently seen the same figure.

THIRD FACT.

In February 1829, a robust, active, cheerful-
looking woman, from Grossgartach, by name Her-
linger, wife to the host of the Eagle Inn, came to

request the advice of Mrs. H , saying, that one

night in the year 1818, being in bed, sujffering neither
from sorrow nor sickness, and thinking of nothing
less than spectres, she was suddenly awakened by a
feeling of oppression, and saw a male figure, without
a head, leaning over her, and, at the same time, dis-
tinctly heard the words — " Love ! love ! release me ! "
She exclaimed with horror — " No, no, that I cannot,"
and leapt out of the bed, awakening her husband ;
but, before she could shew him the spectre, it had
vanished. Having mentioned the circumstance to
her father in the morning, he reproved her for not
having complied with the spectre's request ; and, to

312 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

satisfy him^ she promised that, if it appeared again,
she would declare herself ready to do what was re-
quired. A few nights afterwards it reappeared,
saying — " Love, now fulfil your promise ! " But
her fear being augmented by perceiving that the ap-
parition was aware of the promise-, she again refused.

From this time the spectre persecuted her in va-
rious ways, being visible only to herself, but audible
to others, till, her health being affected, they were
induced to quit their residence and seek another;
but the change brought them no relief. Once, as if
in a dream, the spectre had bidden her dig in a par-
ticular spot in her stable, and that she would there
find a token of the truth ; she did so, and found,
some feet below the surface, a hollow iron ball,
which seemed to have been split with gunpowder.
Her father had often entreated her to converse with
the spectre, but, in spite of her resolutions to com-
ply, she had never been able to do it. To appreci-
ate the candour and simplicity with which this story
was related, it should be heard from the lips of the
woman herself — which, indeed^ those who desire it
may yet do.

Mrs. H gave her a written amulet, with di-
rections how to use it ; and, from that time to this,
(1830,) nothing has been seen by her, nor heard by
others, of the apparition. It seemed probable that
the iron ball may have been connected with the
headless state of the spectre. The individual may
have lost his head by a bombshell, or grenade, in
the disturbances or peasant wars in which Grossgar-

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 313

tach was concerned, and been suddenly translated to
the world of spirits, burdened by some earthly care.

FOURTH FACT.

The following circumstance occurred two years

after the death of Mrs. H : — At Ammerts-

weiler, five hours from Weinsberg, lives a citizen
called Leonard Sammet, a man of forty-three
years of age, in robust health, neither a somnambule
nor a hypocrite — rather, indeed^ of an austere nature
than otherwise^ and totally unacquainted with me or
the Seherin of Prevorst.

On the 11th October 1828, he lost his wife ; and,
although he may have felt some regret, it appears
that he did not very eagerly wish her back again,
and his tears were soon dried. The High Bailiff,
von Wolf, of this place received the following his-
tory from his own lips, in the presence of several
witnesses.

'^ On the 1st September 1829, a year after the
death of my wife, my little boy, aged seven years,
happening to step out of bed between eleven and
twelve o'clock, he saw a white figure, whom he re-
cognized as his mother. The child said nothing, but
leapt into bed to me, and hid his head under the
clothes. I gaw the spectre at the same moment,
but I said nothing to the child, nor did I speak of it
till the following morning, when I asked him the
cause of his alarm, and he told me what he had seen.
From that period the apparition visits us every

314 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

nighty and is not only visible to my boy, but also to
my youngest child, who, although it cannot yet
speak, makes known by gestures what it sees. I
perfectly recognize the spectre to be that of my wife ;
the face emits a light that illuminates every thing
in the room, but the rest of the figure appears only
as a pillar of grey vapour. She walks about the
room, bends over me and the children, often remain-
ing till morning ; but she is silent, and makes no
sign whatever. By the advice of the minister, I
once asked her what I could do to give her rest, but
she looked at me without making any answer. If I
were not strong and fearless, I should have never
been able to support these six weeks of distress and
sleeplessness." The witnesses described the man as
a very healthy, industrious, temperate, honest man.

Through the recommendation of the High BailiflP,
this person afterwards came to me for advice. I
could not discover the slightest traces of indisposi-
tion about him ; on the contrary, he appeared to me
to be perfectly sound, both in body and mind.

He told me, in addition to the above particulars,
that he and his wife had lived peaceably enough to-
gether, although she was extremely passionate. She
was frequently indisposed, and would then tell him
to " Look to it, for she should soon die." To which
he, more in jest than earnest, would answer, " What
matter ? there are plenty of wives to be had with a
hundred florins ; " which was the dower she had
brought him.

^' This used to make her very angry," continued

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 315

he, " and I am very sorry now that I ever said it ;
and sometimes she told me, that if I married again,
unless it was with one of her own sisters, that she
would ^o to the devil if she did not haunt me. But
not believing in the possibility of such an apparition,
I had never thought of this threat till after she had
appeared to me, and I began to question myself as
to what could disturb her — then I remembered it ;
and it is true that I have lately entertained thoughts
of marriage, and it is not with one of my sisters-in-
law."

I gave him an amulet, that the Seherin had
used on a similar occasion-^according to some holy
persons, " a devilish amulet, with an impious word
in it, which the sinful Seeress had prescribed in her
delirium." He left me, not believing in its efficacy ;
and as I heard nothing of him for several weeks,
I wrote to the mayor of the place he inhabited, to
inquire how he was going on. From him I received
the following answer : —

^' The first three nights that Sammett wore the
amulet, his wife appeared to him ; then she discon-
tinued her visits for three more. He then went to
confession. After that, she appeared once to him
and the children ; and from that time she has been
seen no more. He is extremely pleased, and very
thankful to you.

" Oelhaf of Meinhardt, Mat/or"

316 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST*

SOME PACTS RELATING TO WEINSBERG.

There is a house at Weinsberg, that, some thirty
years ago, was inhabited by a vine-dresser, named
Bayer ; it had formerly been used as a wine-press,
but no traces of this purpose now exist. For a space
of forty or fifty years, there has been heard nightly
in this house, between the months of December and
February, sounds, like those made by coopers and
wine-pressers ; and they were not only audible to
the inhabitants of the house, but to the whole neigh-
bourhood. And what is most remarkable, is, that
the louder these sounds are, the finer does the
vintage prove ; insomuch, that a neighbour of the
vine-dresser s — the late common-councilman Mufi* —
founded his speculations on this conviction, and
thereby made his fortune. Bayer, who had married
a daughter of the last possessor of the house, was
bent on discovering the cause of the noise ; and
frequently went, armed with a hatchet, through all
the places whence it seemed to proceed, but he could
never find any means of accounting for it ; and his
father-in-law was wont to say to him, " Leave it
alone ; it has been longer here than we have/'

Frequently, too, the door opened, somebody ap-
peared to enter, and there was a sound of shuflling^
feet in the room. This, however, has only hap-
pened once to the present inhabitant, when he was

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 317

sleeping in the upper storey. His door opened —
shuffling feet approached him, and then retired — but
he saw nothing. So, if one sits up in bed, the bet-
ter to observe — or the neighbours rush out — or a
person passes the door, the noises cease ; but only to
recommence the moment afterwards. This is a fact,
to which numerous witnesses can be produced.

That those noises should be persisted in for forty
years, by the various persons who have dwelt in
this house, nobody can believe ; besides, they are
poor vine-dressers, who carry on no trade in wine,
and could have no interest in doing it. If any one
imagines that the thing was contrived by Councillor
Muff, for his own particular ends — a suggestion that
no one on the spot would entertain for a moment —
it must be remembered that the noises were heard
long before he resided in that part of the country ;
and are still heard, now that he is dead. Besides,
all his neighbours were aware, how, during those
months, he used to watch whole nights at the win-
dow, for the purpose of regulating his speculations.
He made no secret of the thing ; others might have
followed his example, if they would ; but they only
laughed at him, whilst he grew rich.

He died ; but the wealth which he had accumu-
lated, by the aid of the inhabitants of the mid-
region, could not defend him from becoming one of
them himself. He was one of those who came from

the land of shadows, to entreat Mrs. H 's prayers.

She was never ac(][uainted with him.

In the winter months of 1830 and 1831, these

318 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

noises were little heard, as I at the time informed
several of my friends ; and accordingly, the vintages
of those years were very indifferent.

In the council -house at Weinsberg there is a
chamber, which is used as a prison, in which men,
who have been confined at different periods, of va-
rious characters, and altogether unknown to each
other, affirm, that unaccountable things are heard
and felt. Some have been so affected, as to become
ill ; whilst others, on the contrary, have perceived
nothing extraordinary. The council-house is unin-
habited, and disjoined from any other building.
Several of the prisoners, after being released, have
made known these disturbances to the officials —
especially a stout healthy tradesman, who had cer-
tainly never heard a word on the subject. The
same thing occurred in regard to a ganiekeeper, who
had previously been a soldier, and who had little
faith in such matters. The particulars he related,
in the substance of which they all agree, are as fol-
lows : —

'' The first night I slept there, I was suddenly
awakened as the clock struck one, and I heard what
appeared to be the footsteps of a man close to my
bed. They were not overhead, but on the same
floor. (As we have observed no one resides in the
house.) The feet shuffled, as if the shoes were loose.
However, though surprised at the occurrence, I went
to sleep again, and was no more disturbed. On the
following night I was awakened, at the same hour,

OCCURRENCES AT WEINSBERG. 319

by a feeling of oppression and annoyance ; but heard
nothing, and went to sleep again. On the third
night, I was again awakened at one o'clock — and,
what was incomprehensible to me, although the night
was wet, it was quite light — and being wide awake^
I distinctly saw a tall shade bending over me, and
felt it breathe on me three times. At the same
time, the bed- quilt was pulled half off, so that I
caught at it to keep it fast ; and there was a report,
as if my bedstead were cracking asunder, whilst I
felt a shock from beneath, that positively shook me.
I jumped up, and examined the bedstead ; but it
was quite uninjured, and I could discover nothing/'

In consequence of a scarcity of room in the other
prisons, a very courageous fellow from Mergentheim
— a place at a considerable distance from this — was,
in the month of June 1829, lodged in this apart-
ment. Most assuredly, he knew nothing of what
had been reported about the place ; but having spent
some weeks there, he related what follows : —

" Whilst inhabiting this chamber, I was frequently
awakened at one o'clock, by a weight falling on me
like a sack, so that I could scarcely breathe. Once
my bedstead was lifted up and shaken, perceptibly
both to my ears and sensations. But in the morning,
when I examined it, I could not discover any signs
of its having been moved. The quilt was frequently
dragged quite to a distance from the bed ; and some-
times I saw the figure of a man going about the
room, with a bright star upon his breast, about as
large as my hand. It was like a shadow. These

320 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

things did not happen every night; sometimes I
passed three or four without any disturbance."

This man requested to be removed to another
prison^ even though he were placed in much closer
confinement. His wish was complied with, and an-
other was put in his place, who was equally a stranger
to the circumstances. Three nights he passed with-
out any disturbance ; but on the next, being quite
awake, he felt all at once a weight upon his breast,
like a sack, and some one seemed to blow in his ear.
The same thing frequently occurred afterwards. The
quilt was also often drawn off the bed, and when he
attempted to catch at it, he found himself unable to
move his arms.

George Widemann relates a story concerning
Weinsberg, in his Calendar^ which Cousins repeats
in his Swabian Chronicle : —

" Several years before the castle of Weinsberg
was destroyed, in the peasant war of 1825, a gover-
nor of that place had murdered his servant. One
Sunday evening, as he was praying in the chapel of
the castle, he fancied he saw an animal creep out of
the wainscot, and hide itself in a hole in the ground ;
but, on examination, he could find no hole in which
it could possibly have taken refuge. He was sur-
prised, but resumed his prayers. Then he felt a
warm breath blowing on him, and alarmed, he fled
from the chapel. He felt the breath again as he
went, and perceived it proceeded from a dark spectre ;
whereupon he fell ill. In the meantime, the spirit

JOURNAL OF THE SEERESS. 32 1

continued to make itself manifest, by throwing,
knocking, &c., creating great alarm amongst the
people ; whilst in the town the thing wa« laughed
at^ and looked upon as a fable. But when the go-
vernor appointed watchmen to watch the castle by
night, they were disturbed by the spirit in the same
manner ; and at length the annojrance extended to
the guards on the town-wall. Then the people of
Weinsberg held a fast, and walked barefoot to the
church of St. Mary at Heilbronn, in hopes of ap-
peasing this unhappy spirit ; but they were unsuc-
€essful — not till the governor died did it find repose.
After that event, it was never seen nor heard again."

A FACT EXTRACTED PROM THE JOURNAL OF THE SEERESS.

Mrs. H kept a journal for some weeks whilst

she was in Weinsberg, which she reserved entirely
for herself, and allowed nobody to see. As she grew
weaker, she was unable to continue it ; and I got
possession of the papers unknown to her. In order
to exhibit the state of her mind, and to prove that
the desire to return to her home and husband was
her ruling feeling — a point on which she has been
much misunderstood — as well as to shew her entire
conviction of the reality of the apparitions, I will
extract the following passage, which she never in-
tended should meet any eye but her own *-^

X

B }:■' 26fh December JS2=T^Speechless paper 1 to thee
ll fly for refuge! How gladly I would impart my
experiences, and the feelings of my soul, to a friend
to whom I could open my heart, and disclose my
innermost thoughts — -one whose soul was in harmony
l^ith mine, aiid who could afford me comfort and
Gonsdlation under my sufferings ! Is it my fault
that I have no such friend? Is it that I ani too
timid, or that I place too little cQ|ifidei]i<5!^;gn the
friends I have ? I do not think this is natural to
me; but I am repelled, by finding that I am so sel-
dom understood, and so often misinterpreted. But
^ji^. is my joy to feel that there is one who see&nie,
^^ipid knows me; his 1 am^_and; wilLreiiai
^^^er in heaven I qg elgoeg aodW .sin qlail im,
^^ ^'Jtk D^^^m^^r.— To -day my conviction is again
confirmed that we livo in a transitory, imperfect
world ; and that we can rely on nothing ihsi^ lives
and weaves in it ; but must put our trust only in
that which we do not see— namely, the Word, the
,^|r§^,; ^Q4i#u^9^^1 ,S^*^ w By holding fast to this, one
|is enabled to support the abandonment in which I
iUid myself, and the separation from all I love; and

l>Mmilji%#f ^Wr^l^ffiiyM^^I^^ to the spirit.
The body indeed becomes weaker^ — ^especially mine,
which is already so weak. Such a friend were in--

Jf ed a comfo^t^^jj^lj^gj^japuld call the friend
of my soul, and to whom I could communjgfj^^ali

i20il*SiB4^ilA^ ^ visit from, a yi^fj; disquieting ap-

'?■-.. .ebM ^■— ::0m oi baiijiDDa ^jsail ^.mv?oIIo} ^Ai biw

parition, which concertis K----- ; for it is tfiat of a
yelatioi; of his. This spirit, who was a mother, (I

ikBc^nbeJ- Mj^n alive,) wishes me, through K ^

"^o waTn her ehiWren that there is a future life ; and
tliat if they do not turn to their Redeemer, they #ili

' iaiste^ Wen m^re ' thian she does/ the bitterne^ of
de^hv So says this spirit. What shall I da?
<yod >assist m^ to do right !

3ot'fi28^iiiL4,aiSt night the spectre came agaiiii/ to
fetend me what I should do. - ' ' ^^ ^ - ^
^ -" 2M.— To-day I seemed ^^fe^^hMrftily but to-

^^rds^*^t€^ihg-I \ms sei %^Mi % fearful lioine-
^kness. If this continue, my bealth will become
T^o'rser I must seek comfort in myself, for nobody
can help me. When people speak to me as they do
in the world, I only grow sadder. Would I could
always cling to my Bedeemei^ but I am timid and

-^Jul.^^^ ^ufdiou no ^ioi auo aw i,Bdi bnB ibliow

m ^^ The Bpirit came again at eleven o'clock to-day,
-'fiid said, with a threatening aspect, ' Will you not
db whiatt I desire V I answered, ^ I cannot; go to
K^' yourself/ As I said this, it disappeared. I

am perplexed what to do-^people will not believe.
IHl the name of God they may, for I aan convinced
it is true ; but this spirit-seeing costs me much

pain. (Mrs. H here alluded to my frequent re-

'^%aches, and arguments against the validity of the
^^ectres.) '--"^ " -^ ' ^ ^ -'''^'" "'^ ^'-^ .---^^^ X- ^

*' 1st January/ 1828. — I passed thifi-'^ajf-klbhe
MtH my old waiting woman, mostly in reflection;
and the following ideas occurred to me : — ^ Man, set

324 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

thy house in order, for thou must die/ AVhereon it
struck me, that we should do this daily, keeping the
image of death ever before us. At half-past eleven^
that spirit came^ and said, ' How long will you
withhold me from my rest V I appeased it by say-
ing, I would obey it ; but when, heaven knows. I
hope it will come no more.

'•26? January/. — Last night, the spirit returned
with its usual request. I promised to do its bidding
the next day ; and it left me cheerfully. But in the
morning, my heart failed me ; I was sad, and wished
myself home. He who alone knows me, and my
sufferings, grant this !

" 5tk January, — I have not slept, from bodily
weakness and affliction. I wept nearly all night.
How should I recover my health ? At one o'clock
came that bright form that has often appeared to
me before, like a consoling angel > it said, ' Be calm ;
by to-morrow evening things will be better with you.
Help approaches.' It said other things too, which I
treasure in my heart.

'' ^th, — I have been better to-day, with the excep-
tion of my home -sickness. Just when that was at
the worst, in came my husband, and my heart grew
light at once. I thought of the assurance of the
bright form, that the evening would bring me com-
fort.

" ^th, — This has been a tolerably comfortable day,
God be thanked ! for my husband remained with
me, and shared the burden of my pains and afflictions.

" 8^A. — I have not slept all night for spasms.

CONCLUSION. 325

tliinking of my husband's approaching departure.
At mid-day he left me, and I am again alone..
Father in heaven ! witness my tears, and give me
strength to support my troubles. Grant me patience
to bear the burden thou hast laid upon me, for thou
alone know est me ! Mankind will not understand
me.'*

With regard to the request of the spectre above

mentioned^ which occasioned Mrs. H so much

anxiety, it is a remarkable fact, that shortly after-
wards a circumstance occurred to one of the children
of this spirit, which evinced his want of trust in
God ; whilst, at the same time, there was so incom-
prehensible an instance of the preservation of life,
that it could hardly f^il to produce belief in the
existence of a superintending Providence.

CONCLUSION TO THESE FACTS.

And thus, dear reader, I have given you these
facts, without any addition, as I received them ; and
partly shared the experience of them — I believe, not
in vain, as regards myself — and I trust they may
serve to awaken others who yet sleep. By different
people, they may be differently viewed. I dispute
nobody's views on the subject ; I only require that
they do not malign me, and those who accept them
as I do. That we are immortal, and that there is

3W THE SEEBBMOQJ^ FREVORSr.

afature state, iiod©H)^tiSififool; can* dosfet^ij^
lias all the wisdoiB of the world hitherto dis^dvl^t^d!
in regard to it ? '' In my father's house there are
many mansions ;'V and innumerable facts testify^ tbabt
amongst these, some are so near us, tjbat tbmr^finhy^-:
bitants are diffused amongst us. Let people inquire.
But the news is unwelcome; and the multitude— :
especially the strong-minded — (les esprits forts)— 2i£Q:
too glad to set it all aside as a delusion of the senses.
And this world of spirits, too, is least of all what
the wise world would figure it, but rather what the
simplicity of the simple has long portrayed it ; and
let reason banisK these ideas as it will, the still mid?-
night hour, and the silent chamber of death, yet 'te^l
witness to their truth. Oh! if mankind would be
honest in this respect, and put away worldly wisdQni
and worldly shame/how many opponents of the^
humble pages would become their supporters and
defenders !

Finally, what we have seen, heard, felt, and by
proof established, no reasoning shall oTerthrow; and
although we are discreet enough, to pre^s our belief
oil iMKanaB^--and> least of all, to adventure it in the
shape of nkedical science^ — the moral and ehristiau
tendency of this narration we must boldly :coi^tend
to; : We believe in tte inn^^life jogf th«aS0ul,akn4ia
an intuitive faculty of ghost-seeing; both of wbi^JI^
in our ordinary condition, are suppressed or shut ^;
but which, in extraordinary cases, are revealed fitoa
short time, to be again long concealed. With re^
spect to the apparitions themselye^^ the public may

heUhve, that ^^okmm afcolnikitif (flfebelief^^^a seemttbijt
cjotild be in theif^fefciiMgflis^^ffedtPofdifi^iiw^
td proof. We had, perhaps, less difficulty maltedngf
ottr views, from the conviction, that there are many?
arguments in favour of the existence of a world ol
spirits ; espeei^-llj that drawn from the extreme dif-
ference between th^er moral and physical laws -^-a
diierence that cannot appear in its full force till
after dearth. When we cast off our bones and flesb^
and all sensible forms— and with them their physical
properties^the indestructible moral law remains in
the spirit and soul^ and their incorporeal forms ; and
whait will be the consequences of such a condition^
Let us imagine a man who, instead of exercising his
iqjFirit 4n^ the tfutibs and mandates of religion and
nioralifyv has given up his soul to corrupt inclinai
tiotiis, erroneous principles, and mistaken projects,
the delusive fabrics of his intelleet----whQy by means
of his wishes, desires for honour, fame, and profit^ jis
8^ta(3hed.4o the earth by a thousand roots---wSat,
according to the moral law, will be the chara>cter of
his soul after death ? Clearly that which he has
himself made it. It will be a creature ai:tached to
the world, and destitute ef religion and truth ; whe
now, for the first time, freed from his corporeal foria;
and his ieonnexions with nature, perceives in himself
the insignificance and nullity of all his former think-
ii|g, feeling, willing, and doing, l The transition ^
«mjh a creature, from the corporeal t0 the incojpor^
form, is no great step, since Jie is still chained to the
eai^tk by^all the pwjpensities of liis:s<»2L ^ . '--

328 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

Let us add to this, some residuary influence from
the teaching of the life, or nerve-spirit — which
fashioned during existence the immaterial form of
that beautiful life between body and soul, and re-
mains identified with the latter after death — and
the probability of a physical connexion between
creatures of this low grade and the earth, becomes
very great ; although they dwell in a sphere which
is only perceptible to persons under such abnormal
conditions of body, soul, and spirit, as we see ex-
hibited in the case of the Seherin. Let us add to
this again the force of fact — the indisputable evi-
dence of eyes and ears — the highest that history is
capable of adducing — and the cry raised by the so-
called heroes of enlightenment becomes utterly with-
out meaning or signification.

He who is incapable of feeling the difference be-
tween the moral and physical laws, will also be
unable to enlarge his views, so as to comprehend how
these will appear after death. Such an one stands
in the flesh before a thick curtain, which he cannot
blow aside ; and, like all empirics, concludes, that
what is unseen and unheard is also non-existent;
although the closest deductions shew, that the insen-
sible forms are as real as the sensible.

Could we^ whilst on earth, behold the naked soul^,
freed from its fleshly husk — and so obtain a view of
its interior condition — we should be as much disposed
to laugh at the absurdities it would present, as to
shudder at the horrors. But by a most merciful law^
these inconsistent souls are hidden from each other

CONCLUSION. 329

by the husk or mantle which nature has bestowed
upon each ; whereby we may all easily and freely
associate, and carry on life together.

But it is otherwise after death when this mantle
falls off; for then do moral inconsistencies become
symbolized, and that in a mode adapted to the con-
dition of the soul ; and it is seen at once of what
manner of spirit this creature is the offspring. The
contrast makes itself principally manifest between
beauty and light, on the one hand, and deformity
and darkness on the other ; whilst the nerve-spirit
imitates, after deaths the plastic type that existed
during life.

330 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

3£ro ^0 dfiemom eili woni ot biBd be wtl '^— sjlijwa

During the first week of Mrs. H- & i^esideilce
at Lowenstein, (whether she had returned,) she was
sieiifeible of another revolution in her sun--spheres,
whereby the freedom of her soul was again lost and
destroyed, and she fell into a condition that resembled
that of a dying person. Her respiratory organs
#ere unequal to encounter the sharp mountain air,
kx different from that she had been lately accustomed
fe^^and to this was added the prejudicial effect of the
smoke and vapours from the workshops and vitriol
niainufactories in the neighbourhood. Yainly she
Wished herself back in the valley she had quitt^H^
she was now too much debilitated to support the
journey. She had a consuming and unremitting
ffever ; her difficulty of swallowing was so great, thaft
she scarcely ate anything, and she was frequently
obliged to cool her burning thirst by bathing her
tSfigue with water. All this might have been fordl-
seen. Yainly I had opposed the change, but it wsS
persisted in, in spite of my representations. She had
ferself foretold her fate in her magnetic dream oh
the 2d of May, of which dream it is to be remarked,
contrary to all preceding instances, she had no recol-
fiction— a naerciful exception, since in it she leaa^ht
tliat she was soon to wake no more. Yet, she had
some presentiment, for she frequently said, when

DEATH OF THE SEERESS. 331

awake — " It is hard to know the moment of one's
own death/'

Three ireeks before her decease, she had three
times a second-sight, which also indicated the ap-
proaching catastrophe. There appeared to her a
benign female figure, taller than herself, enveloped
in black; she saw only the bust; the rest of th^
form was also wrapt in black, and stood in an ojpen
coffin, beside it was a white cross. The apparition
beckoned to her, and she felt its cold breath. She
said it was not a spirit, but a portentous second^
sight; and well she knew what it foreboded. ^1^
however, interpreted the vision differently, fo^ J
b^lieved^ her death yet distant, having so often se^q
her revive from the very verge of extinction. ^

Three days before she died, she raised three of J^er^
fingers as if taking an oath, and swore that her li|^
would scarcely endure three days longer. She
wished to die, but, like most people, dreaded the
aguish that she expected would attei^^^fiie,^^^
struggle. Mauy a time she had been in that mortal
agony; and inexpressible was the suffering of this
poor creature from thus continually dying, and yet
not beinff able to dio. ,^,^.,.

i^.^ Contrary to my expectations, her magnetip cojit
^i^^;(3ptinued, and even increased, as her fever
augmented. She told me that two spectres having
shortly before been with her, they had answered her
inquiry of why they came„ by saying—'' You are
already of us;" and she felt herself that she was
more than ever in relation with the^sgiritual world.

332 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

In one of her last days she told me, that^ during her
fever ^ she often saw visions ; all sorts of forms
passed before her eyes^ hut it was impossible to ex-
press how entirely different these occular illusions
were to the real discerning of spirits ; and she only
wished other people were in a condition to compare
these two kinds of perception with one another^
both of which were equally distinct from our ordin-
ary perception^ and also from that of the second-sight.
Another circumstance that convinced me of the
truth of her revelations was, that, at my last visit,
when she was fully aware of her approaching end,
she told me, in conJBdence^ that her deceased father
had lately been with her ; and that, having asked
him why, since he had been dead a year, she had not
seen him before, he answered that it had not been in
his power to reveal himself to her earlier. It will
be remembered that;, eight months after his death, he
had appeared to her sister and the attendant, whilst
she had only seen him in a dream. When I then
expressed my surprise at her not seeing him, she
seemed hurt at my expecting it, apparently because
her filial affection led her to believe him in a higher
state ; and now that he did come, it was evidently
contrary to her wishes and expectations.

At a later period, when she was incapable of any
connected discourse, she was very desirous of com-
municating some revelations of her father respecting
the world of spirits, as well as of speaking farther of
her sun-sphere and her inner reckoning, but she was
unequal to it.

DEATH OF THE SEERESS. 333

On the 5ih. of August 1829, she became delirious,
though she had still magnetic and lucid intervals.
She was in a very pious state of mind^ and requested
them to sing hymns to her. She often called loudly
for me, though I was absent at the time ; and once,
when she appeared dead, some one having uttered
my name, she started into life again, and seemed
unable to die — the magnetic relation between us
being not yet broken. She was, indeed, susceptible
to magnetic influences to the last ; for, when she was
already cold, and her jaws stiff, her mother having
made three passes over her face, she lifted her eye-
lids and moved her lips. At ten o'clock, her sister
saw a tall bright form enter the chamber, and, at the
same instant, the dying woman uttered a loud cry of"
joy ; her spirit seemed then to be set free. After a
short interval, her soul also departed, leaving behind
it a totally irrecognizable husk — not a single trace of
her former features remaining. During her life, her
countenance was of that sort that is borrowed wholly
from the spirit within ; for which reason, though
many attempts were made, no artist succeeded in
transmitting her features to the canvass. It is,
therefore, not surprising that, when the spirit had
departed, the face should no longer be the same.

In the night succeeding her death — of which I had
not the least idea — I saw her in a dream, with two
other female forms, and apparently perfectly re-
covered.

On the 7th, the post mortem examination took

334 THE SEERESS OF PREVORST.

place, conducted by Dr. Oif, of Lowenstein. The
body was found wasted to a skeleton ; there was
considerable induration of the mesenteric glands, the
liver was diseased, and there was a large stone in

the gall-bladder — a thing Mrs. H had often

averred during life. There was inflammation of the
heart and its vessels, and also of the respiratory
organs, probably in consequence of her removal to
the mountain air, which these delicate tissues were
no longer able to encounter. Dr. Off found the skull
remarkably well formed, and the brain, in all its
parts so sound and healthy, that he declared that he
had never, in all his experience, met with one more
perfect ; neither in the spinal marrow — every pro-
cess of which was exa]3iin^---nprin the nerves of the
breast, or abdominal region, was the slightest trace
of disease discovered.

On the 8th, the remains x)f this poor sufferer were
deposited in the romantic churchyard of Lowenstein,
where the bodies of her grandfather, the worthy
Schmidgall, and of his wife, whom she had recognized
as her protecting spirit, had already found their rest.

It is a fact, that, after her death, Mrs. H

appeared seven times to her eldest sister — a very
truthful and upright person — under such peculiar
circumstances, as well warranted the interference of
a friendly spirit ; but, as this remarkable history is
connected with family affairs, the time is not yet
arrived when the particulars can with propriety be
disclosed.

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APPENDIX.

We here subjoin a specimen of the Seherin's verses,
which, although not poetical in the original, we freely
admit are still less so in our translation.

Oh ! Father, thou only knowest my hearty

And whether I deceive —
Whether the secrets I impart

Are truths, or lies I weave.

Alas ! although from thee I hold
The dreadful power to unfold

The secrets of the grave ;
Gladly would I that gift resign,
And close this inner-eye of mine —
But not my will be done, but thine.

^.

338 APPENDIX.

LINES

COMPOSED IMMEDIATELY BEFORE HER DEATH.

Farewell ! dear friends ! farewell !
Thanks for your love and tending
Of the weary life now ending —

Farewell ! farewell !

And shall I call ye friends,
Sent for the wisest ends.
To aggravate my woes ?
Yes, friends no less than those —
Farewell ! farewell !

Farewell to all I love !
Whilst my spirit floats above.
My body '11 here remain
To witness my life of pain* —
Farewell ! farewell !

Grieve not that I'm at rest !
Farewell all I love best !
Soon we shall meet again
Where dwells no grief nor pain —
Farewell ! farewell !

* The Seherin here refers to a wish she had expressed that he!~
body should be opened.

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